Ingen Navn Trio
Ingen Navn Trio
Ingen Navn Trio – ALTARA
If one were to describe the music that the trio Ingen Navn has introduced to the world with their new album—their second—one question arises before all others: Where does one even begin with such abundance? Perhaps with simple, immediate impressions. We hear buzzing electronics, a saxophone that moves with focused ease, and field recordings of birdsong. The birds were recorded by saxophonist and vocalist Inga Rothammel herself.
And where does it go from here? On a journey. The album was created following a trip through Peru and Argentina, offering space for introspection and reflection. “I was sitting on a mountain in the jungle, just me and my saxophone, completely cut off from the internet,” says Inga Rothammel. “No cars, no ambient noise. I also didn’t speak Spanish, so I couldn’t understand anyone.”
Knowing that the roots of ALTARA lie here—in experiences of nature, temporary solitude, and the absence of language—makes it easier to grasp the incredible diversity of this music. “I rested / I grew,” sings Inga Rothammel on “Kormorane” (ALTARA is the first Ingen Navn album to integrate lyrics). And in the next track, “Eenden”: “So light, so soft / I float away on cloud songs.”
Nature and technology: Eenden is a dreamlike indie-pop song, but drummer Hendrik Eichler weaves in countless tiny breakcore miniatures and glitches. Ingen Navn are equipped with an array of devices, and their joy in experimentation, in sound itself, and in the intensities that can be created with anything that produces noise is palpable in every moment of ALTARA. The result is that this trio seems constitutionally incapable of producing even a single dull sequence.
And yet, this leads to a kind of homogeneous diversity, if such a thing can be said. Each member brings something different to the table: Inga Rothammel comes from jazz and improvisation (among other things), guitarist Rocco Romano claims his roots in thrash metal but also in contemporary minimal music (both of which can be heard in his playing), and drummer Hendrik Eichler has recently made a name for himself as a DJ.
The spectrum on ALTARA spans from elegiac improvisations (“Jugar”) to metal-infused jazz (“Traumnebel”) to tracks influenced by electronic dance music—most notably the irresistibly energetic “Goldgrube” and “Welle.”
Yet despite this range, the album can be listened to in one go—it all feels seamlessly connected. Ingen Navn take the freedom they need to compose or spontaneously develop pieces that allow listeners to feel liberated—liberated from musical conventions, from rigid ideas about how things should be done, from stagnated concepts in general. That sense of freedom transfers to the audience. Almost anything is possible in this music, but nothing feels arbitrary.
This musical freedom is also expressed in the lyrics, which exude intimacy and a dreamlike quality, blending into the vibrant sonic landscape like another instrument. But it is equally present in the trio’s unabashed love for noise. “Goldgrube” begins with a spoken-word poem at a slow, deliberate pace: “A hard clump of damp earth / becomes the goldmine of our dreams / dreams we do not know but still fear / do not yet see or understand / do not accept / but secretly wish for.” Then the voice, followed by the music, gains momentum. Saxophone and guitar spiral around each other before the track plunges into a driving psytrance beat—only to dissolve into noise particles and then, without warning, conclude with a surprising 20-second twist. And none of it feels overthought. “We want people to dance,” says Hendrik Eichler.
In the three minutes that “Goldgrube” lasts, the trio fires more ideas at the listener than some bands do on an entire album. And if you do the math, this holds true for all ten tracks on ALTARA. Ingen Navn plays a radically inventive, playful, and naturally organic music that, despite its overflowing melodies, complex rhythms, and bursts of noise, maintains a deep sense of inner calm.
