6th April 2015: Big News: Partikel will release ‘String Theory’ on May 11th 2015. Promo video, full length track and tour dates.

String Theory is the third release from London-based Partikel (Duncan Eagles, Max Luthert and Eric Ford), a group that has maintained a feverish live schedule the past few years and that is heralded as a significant new band on the European scene. Their latest album sees them pushing their own sonic and compositional boundaries by teaming up with four respected string players of the UK scene, fusing their love of jazz, rock and world music with the textures of a string quartet to create music that showcases an array of unique soundscapes.  The string quartet has been integrated seamlessly into Partikel’s trademark style of raw emotion and fiercely interactive improvisations, striking a balance between intensity and rich harmony.

The approach to String Theory differs to Partikel’s previous albums where fine-tuning and non-stop rehearsing of arrangements characterized the lead up to the studio recordings. Eagles describes the process: “With this album the charts I wrote for the trio were purposefully more open and melodic than previous material and the arrangements were developed through touring with the band— rather than all the rehearsing— which I think gives the trio performance on this album a much more natural and spontaneous dynamic.” An example of this organic process is demonstrated in the second track of the album “Seeking Shadows” which is a sole product of their live set. “On that track the band would begin playing freely at shows and soon a form seemed to develop, followed by subsequent parts that we liked. Slowly over time a formal structure has appeared that sounds completely composed, but really there was never a chart for that track. Even when we recorded it in the studio there was still an air of the unknown.” The band has also started to incorporate electronic effects into their live set which they touch upon in the production of this album, giving String Theory a new overall sonic feel from their previous albums where they solely featured the acoustic trio.

Eagles talks about the string quartet: “When thinking about the addition of the strings I wanted to really try and push myself in all areas and not just in the actual writing of their parts which is something I’d never done until this project. Compositionally I wanted to think on a larger scale, moving away from the head–solo–head format as much as possible and I was adamant that I did not want to use the strings as just backing or padding. I wanted the string quartet to be as involved as possible and have a number of opportunities for the two ensembles to interact and improvise together. The first three tracks on the album play together as one piece and this is where I have really put this concept to work the most. When putting this together I was more concerned with allowing a flowing group effort.

Hear the full length version of ‘Shimmer’ from the album below:

Partikel will be doing a UK tour starting on May 28th 2015 (for full details click here)