8 Octopi
8 Octopi
8 Octopi – Frail Boat
A new, multi-layered jazz song collection from an unusually configured quartet. Original pieces for voice, flute, piano and bass – rich yet easily accessible.
Ben Zahler leaves no doubt: the focus of 8 Octopi is the song. The flautist, composer and lyricist from Basel, Switzerland, leads a group that defies easy definition. A jazz formation? Yes, certainly. “That’s how we’re usually perceived,” says Zahler with a grin. “But some of the pieces are quite close to pop songs,” he adds. Compact song structures predominate, with arrangements clearly shaped by the needs of each song. At the same time, there is room for solo and, at times, collective freedom. Then there is the instrumentation: an acoustic quartet (recently augmented by occasional electronic sounds), in which voice and flute operate side by side, while piano and double bass provide a resilient foundation. No drums – yet rhythmically compelling.
Describing Zahler’s songs as demanding would certainly be accurate. However, that alone misses the point that their intelligent, complex and ambitious qualities are usually conveyed with clarity and accessibility. It is an example of the art of making the sophisticated seem almost effortless. The vocals play a crucial role in this. Patricija Skof, the Slovenian-born singer, navigates the songs with natural ease and warmth. She lends the pieces a distinctive character, both vocally and through her expressiveness, drawing the listener in. Remarkably, she joined the band only relatively recently – almost a stroke of luck, or serendipity, as Zahler sees it. Her predecessor left for personal reasons after touring with the previous album Errors in Disguise (2023, BERTHOLD Records). Zahler discovered Patricija Skof through a video. She, in turn, was already very familiar with 8 Octopi and had seen the band live. She readily accepted the invitation to join. It is evident that she is not only completely in her element, but also able to draw on a wide range of experience, from her own albums to big band engagements.
With her, 8 Octopi have taken the next major step in a band history now spanning roughly ten years. Zahler reflects: “Even though Patricija and her predecessor Isabelle Ritter have completely different voices, and I initially had to adjust my compositional approach somewhat, a much larger and more decisive change in the group’s development was actually the earlier reworking of the rhythm section.” He assembled the first version of the quartet around ten years ago. In 2018, the debut album Quietly Cold was released – at that time, the band was still called Ben Zahler’s Songgoing. At a certain point, the original rhythm section (pianist and bassist) no longer fully aligned with the bandleader’s compositional ideas. With Catalan pianist Iannis Obiols and Ukrainian bassist Ilya Alabuzhev, Zahler quickly found an ideal pairing, open and receptive to the unusual character of the pieces. It was only logical to adopt a new band name. 8 Octopi – initially just a song title – is borrowed from an anecdote in Salman Rushdie’s novel Quichotte. Alabuzhev and Obiols bring everything the bandleader expects: ambitious curiosity, stylistic openness, soloistic skill and a playful team spirit. All members of the current international line-up are closely connected with the Jazzkollektiv Basel and well networked within the local scene.
Zahler composes at the piano. As a teenager, it was his main instrument for a time. Alongside the classical canon, he also made early forays into jazz, initially in a traditional style. He began playing the flute at the age of seven and, as his enthusiasm for jazz grew, it eventually became his primary means of personal expression. Asked about his jazz flute heroes, the Swiss musician from the Basel region names some surprising figures: above all Eric Dolphy, followed by Frank Wess and Yusef Lateef. Contemporary colleagues, of course, are also firmly on his radar.
Zahler once played in more conventionally oriented jazz combos and big bands. Today, songwriting is just as important to him as instrumental expression. “I see myself more as a songwriter than as a composer,” he says – fully aware that this positions him as something of a colourful figure in today’s jazz scene. Those who engage with the lyrics are rewarded with multiple perspectives, linguistic finesse, subtle irony and poetic strength. This stems from Zahler’s interest in literature. During his studies – he completed a master’s degree in music (with a focus on jazz) and computer science – he took English literature as a subsidiary subject. A creative writing course proved to be a formative experience. Following an earlier year-long stay in the United States, English became second nature to him.
Zahler has “no clear workflow” when it comes to linking text and music. He collects lyric ideas in a wide range of everyday situations, often notes them on his phone, develops them further, and eventually merges them with compositions. He clearly favours the distinctive. “It mustn’t be banal or simplistic, but it should sound good and be enjoyable.” The broad musical range mirrors that of his lyrics: from the biting, ironic critique of the catchy “Money Maker” to the romantic “Still Clouds”; from the fragility of the title track “Frail Boat” to the Chet Baker homage “Chet Contrails”; from the poetically cryptic “Lost in Arrows” to more philosophical reflections.
He readily admits that creative work provides an important counterbalance to his day job as an experienced IT specialist. That professional background, in turn, informs lyrics such as “Money Maker”. His expertise as a computer scientist also naturally helped with programming the sounds on “Black Blanket” and “Still Clouds”, a new element in the band’s sonic palette. With Frail Boat, the 8 Octopi musicians again reach out. You can confidently entrust yourself to them.
