On Dog: Dielectric

The Dog is loose again! ON DOG’s long-awaited third album is out.

Since ON DOG’s inception, in 2012, it has been clear that this combination of international players – all experienced improvisers and bandleaders – had natural access to a beautiful musical common ground.

Their debut in two volumes (Part One – Sloeblack and Part Two – White Horse y La Rumba, ILK 2013) was warmly welcomed by critics and audience and led to an intense live activity in Europe, including Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Sunship, Jazz Luxembourg, Jazzhouse (Cph.), Metastasio Jazz, Correggio Jazz Festival, Südtirol Jazz Festival, Casa del Jazz (Rome), Jazz Club Ferrara, Teatro Sant Andrea a.o.
After 8 years of work, the early compositional strategies – mostly based on polyphony and long, through-composed forms – have been complemented by developing improvisational practices that are highly informed by the dense written material.

The original threads – groove-oriented tracks with rocking bursts carried by baritone, guitar and drums on one end, chamber-like passages on the other – are now glued together into smaller, condensed forms, with an unconventional use of synthesizers, electronics and extended woodwind techniques. All performed by some of the finest and original players from Italy, Copenhagen and Berlin.

Recorded in 2016 in the beautiful, reverberant Koncertkirken and the clear, gener- ous, main room at The Village Recording in Copenhagen, these tracks stayed in the drawer, waiting for dissemination in small chunks and multiple formats to fit the iridescent quality of the music. The current lockdown due to the virus outbreak urged Bigoni and Solborg to synthesize these outcomes from another world into a single output.

The 2020 Dog has matured, is carefully selected and is as On as ever. Enjoy your listening!

Format: CD, digital
Catalogue #: ILK307CD
Release date: 26-06-2020

Line-up:
Piero Bittolo Bon - alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute & voice
Francesco Bigoni -  tenor saxophone & clarinet
Beppe Scardino - baritone saxophone & bass clarinet
Mark Solborg guitars & electronics
Marc Lohr drums & electronics

Press:

“..ingeniously.. gritty beats and electronics ..kitten fur soft with a refined clarinet lead, a gentle flute finale and quiet guitar reverb cushioned by the horn section. On Dog has created a unique identity for itself."
- Kan Waxman - Jazz Word

“Rarely have I heard a more intelligent use of electronics aiming at ensemble music with tonal valeur. Thanks for that – and for all the rest. ON DOG has with their mesmerising polyphonic melodic and rhythmical complexity consolidated their position as an International master-band with a truly original sound.” 
- Bjarne Søltoft, JazzSpecial DK

This mature group has acquired an impressive set of interesting voices and rebellious tricks. This dog is on the loose and is as On as ever. 
- Eyal Hareuveni - Salt peanuts*

“On Dog’s compositional approach is salted with improvisation and the sound palette adds synthesizers and electronic textures to create eleven tracks of utter individuality – one second pure ebullience, the next complex sorrow, the next bobbing for past references to turn inside out... ..it flows. It jumps but never jars, each surprise turn reveals a new vista. “
- Dave Foxall, A Jazz Noise.

"I assure you now, this album isn’t for the typical easy listener and do check your rotary volume control knob twice. Their dense writing is to be praised: there are elements of chamber-like passages, but also groove-orientated compositions blended with unconventional woodwind techniques and electronics. On Dog creates a sonic world where musical ideas are elongated, inverted and electronically charged. "
- Thomas Fletcher, Jazzjournal (UK)