Label: Intakt Records, 2026
Personnel - Camila Nebbia: tenor saxophone; Kit Downes: piano, cello, Hammond organ; Andrew Lisle: drums.
Exhaust, the trio of adventurous saxophonist Camila Nebbia, inventive keyboardist Kit Downes, and responsive drummer Andrew Lisle, is a product of the fertile, contemporary Berlin jazz scene. These improvisers work from a pure free-jazz angle, showcasing an instinctual kinship that may lead you to unexpected places.
“Complicated Matters of Presence” kicks off with delicate and ruminative interplay, each member layering with confidence as they introduce valid ideas with possibilities for development. Crescendos, climaxes, and sweeping vortexes of sound are constantly carried out with tension and an underlying energy that refuses to dissipate.
“Three Heads in One” feels like a warped song, but its narrative is intact. Lisle’s drumming is effusive, contrasting with Downes’ dreamy runs and Nebbia’s volatile melodicism. The saxophonist sparks things off whenever exploring in the lower register. “Crawl Into the Light” goes from a smoothly explorative state to a raucously agitated one. The title might suggest a struggle to get rid of an imposing darkness, but the trio’s playing sort of contradicts this idea by operating vibrantly in the brightest tonal and energetic sides of the spectrum.
Hauntingly atmospheric, “Skoda Allstars” features Downes playing cello, both bowed and pizzicato, contributing to a nebulous cloud complemented by cymbal screams and tenor overtones. “Procedural Moralism” highlights intervallic expression as the trio creates an incessant, free-flowing stream that only stops when soaring saxophone multiphonics conclude the proceedings.
The title track, “All the Beauties and Disasters”, whose name was suggested by avant-jazz enthusiast Heino Lüth, ends the session loudly, an experiment in counterpoint where Nebbia and Downes take on, respectively, repetitive figures within conversational lines and harmonic tension complemented by nimble melodic segments. The final moments dissolve into a soft, dreamlike haze.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Complicated Matters of Presence ► 02 - Three Heads in One ► 08 - All the Beauties and Disasters