TRAINING

Today (27 Sept) TRAINING + Ruth Goller have shared the latest taster of their upcoming album with new single ‘backlog’. The track is taken from album threads to knot, releasing 18 October via German tastemaker label Squama Recordings.

TRAINING, a Berlin based, experimental jazz duo who play drums and saxophone, have teamed up with London based bass player, composer and vocalist Ruth Goller. The trio announced their album with previous single ‘finback’ - an explosive mix of post-rock and free-jazz.

Today’s new single ‘backlog’ continues to show the group's experimental and genre-blending talents. Simmering the tone down from previous single, ‘Backlog’ is a cocktail of swirling atmospheres and ominous instrumentation. Slowly building over the course of the song with new textures and tones being added every cycle.

Speaking on the track, drummer Max Andrzejewski offers:

“A mysterious, slowly marching piece. Holding back for a while and then unfolding more and more. The composition is purely additive. An element is added in every round, and every round makes a bit more sense somehow. It also gets more a bit beautiful over the time, as if a tension, a problem is solving all by itself…”

Berlin based TRAINING are made up of drummer Max Andrzejewski and saxophonist Johannes Schleiermacher, with the two also playing guitar and various synthesizers within the band. After developing their unique style of free jazz drums and live effect-processed sax, the duo reached out to other collaborators to expand on their sound. The first fruit born from this approach was a project with Deerhoof guitarist John Dieterich, creating the album ‘Three Seconds’, released in 2021.

Hailed by the Guardian for her “thunderous bass-guitar hooks”, as well as high praise from Jazzwise, The Quietus and Guitar World, Ruth Goller helped lay the foundation for the UK’s jazz renaissance whilst playing in many of its most influential and popular bands. From her years on stage with Acoustic Ladyland and Melt Yourself Down, to more recently Let Spin and Vula Viel, whilst performing and recording with the likes of Shabaka Hutchings, Mercury-Award nominee Kit Downes, Sam Amidon, Bojan Z, Marc Ribot, Rokia Traoré, and Paul McCartney.

The new collaboration between TRAINING + Ruth Goller is the next step in an already productive working relationship; Andrzejewski having been one of the drummers to play on Gollers SKYLUMINA, amongst others such as Sons of Kemet / The Smile drummer Tom Skinner. In writing threads to knot, Goller, Andrzejewski and Schleiermacher have taken a completely collaborative, holistic approach to composition. With each part of each song being composed from only ever hearing the final few bars of the other instruments. The result completely blurs genre lines, with elements of frenetic free jazz sitting side by side with post-rock riffs and looming microtonal atmospheres. Through unrestrained improvisation, experimentation and fully trusted collaboration, TRAINING and Ruth Goller have created a piece of work which proves difficult to compare to almost anything else.