Lost Ships

Elina Duni, Rob Luft, Fred Thomas, Matthieu Michel

EN / DE
Elina Duni and Rob Luft’s programme of songs of love and exile has been gathering momentum since 2017, when the Albanian-Swiss singer and the British guitarist began their collaboration. Along the way the duo has been augmented by distinguished guests, with Swiss flugelhornist Matthieu Michel and UK pianist/percussionist Fred Thomas here making significant contributions to the overarching concept. The migration crisis, a theme explored on Elina’s Partir album, is again a central issue, so too ecological concerns. Material is drawn from many sources: “There are songs that touch upon past influences, with the sound of Albania and Mediterranean folklore ever-present. We wanted to explore other musical roots, too: timeless jazz ballads, French chanson, American folk song…” The broad range of music addressed runs from traditional pieces to original compositions, via songs made famous by Frank Sinatra and Charles Aznavour. Lost Ships was recorded at Studios la Buissonne in the South of France in February 2020.
Seit 2017, als die albanisch-schweizerische Sängerin und der britische Gitarrist ihre Zusammenarbeit begannen, entwickelt das Programm von Elina Duni und Rob Luft mit Liedern von Liebe und Exil immer mehr Eigendynamik. Im Laufe der Zeit wurde das Duo durch hochkarätige Gäste ergänzt, wobei der Schweizer Flügelhornist Matthieu Michel und der britische Pianist/Percussionist Fred Thomas wesentliche Beiträge zum Gesamtkonzept leisten. Die Migrationskrise, die auf Elinas Album Partir thematisiert wurde, ist erneut ein zentrales Thema, ebenso wie ökologische Belange. Das musikalische Material stammt aus vielen Quellen: "Es gibt Lieder, die vergangene Einflüsse berühren, wobei die Musik Albaniens und mediterrane Folklore allgegenwärtig sind. Wir wollten auch andere musikalische Wurzeln erforschen: zeitlose Jazzballaden, französisches Chanson, amerikanische Folksongs…" Das breite Spektrum der Songs reicht auf dem neuen Album von traditionellen Stücken bis hin zu Eigenkompositionen, über Lieder, die durch Frank Sinatra und Charles Aznavour berühmt gemacht wurden. Lost Ships wurde im Februar 2020 in den Studios la Buissonne in Südfrankreich aufgenommen.
Featured Artists Recorded

February 2020, Studios La Buissonne, Pernes les Fontaines

  • 1Bella Ci Dormi
    (Traditional)
    06:52
  • 2Brighton
    (Elina Duni, Rob Luft)
    05:44
  • 3I'm A Fool To Want You
    (Frank Sinatra, Jack Wolf, Joel Herron)
    04:27
  • 4Numb
    (Elina Duni, Rob Luft)
    06:32
  • 5Lost Ships
    (Elina Duni, Rob Luft)
    05:22
  • 6The Wayfaring Stranger
    (Traditional)
    04:57
  • 7Flying Kites
    (Elina Duni, Rob Luft)
    04:52
  • 8Lux
    (Elina Duni, Rob Luft)
    05:21
  • 9Kur Më Del Në Derë
    (Traditional)
    04:09
  • 10N'at Zaman
    (Traditional)
    04:26
  • 11Empty Street
    (Elina Duni, Rob Luft)
    01:52
  • 12Hier Encore
    (Charles Aznavour)
    03:44
Des arrangements sophistiqués mettent en valeur la voix qui ondule, tendre ou plus aiguë. L’ambiance est très cool, dans le registre de la mélopée, avec parfois des pointes d’orientalisme. […] Aux côtés d’Elina Duni son guitariste et co-compositeur brille de tous ses feux. Fred Thomas (piano, batterie) et Matthieu Michel (trompette) sont au diapason: impeccables.
Jean-Marc Le Scouarnec, La Dépêche du Midi
 
Albanian-Swiss singer Elina Duni’ fourth set for ECM finds her partnering British guitarist Rob Luft in a set of collaborative performances alongside Swiss flugelhorn player Mathieu Michel and British pianist and multi-instrumentalist Fred Thomas. […] her voice is crystalline in its multilingual enunciation while also intimate and expressive in tone […] As ever with Duni, this is an album of craft and skill, of beautiful vocals and subtle instrumentation, performed with perfection. As ever, evocative and intensely moving.
Simon Adams, Jazz Journal
 
The  ‘Lost Ships’ album has attracted a compelling amount of critical praise, and rightly so. Under the guidance of veteran ECM producer Manfred Eicher Duni and Luft have delivered something of a quiet masterpiece. It is an album that never shouts for the listener’s attention but nevertheless attracts it thanks to the sheer beauty of the performances. The singing and playing is understated, the virtuosity of the players never signposted but instead channelled faithfully into serving the material. The songs are derived from various sources but unified by their emotional impact and directness, the arrangements deliberately kept simple, but still containing moments of exquisitely beautiful playing from all three instrumentalists. Duni sings with quiet authority and a great maturity, sounding emotionally convincing whatever language she is singing in, no mean skill. Her vocals are pure and clear, technically accomplished but shorn of any histrionics. Meanwhile Luft combines acoustic and electric guitar sounds with consummate skill, serving as the perfect accompanist, in addition to his role as a composer and arranger. There’s a folk like simplicity about much of this material and a quiet, melancholic, but emotionally direct, beauty that is likely to appeal to a wide audience, far beyond the usual jazz demographic. Whether ‘Lost Ships’ actually constitutes a ‘jazz’ album is a moot point anyway, but it’s undeniably a very beautiful one that represents something of a milestone for its co-leaders.
Ian Mann, The Jazzmann
 
Ein Album von ganz außergewöhnlicher Qualität. Poetisch, kraftvoll und mit einer Botschaft, die uns alle angeht.
Georg Wassmuth, Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk
 
Lauter zauberhaft zart nuancierte Lieder, die zwischen arachischer Kargheit und expressiver Modernität schillernd große Klangkunst ovn filigraner Raffinesse sind. Erregend intim und wunderschön.
Sven Thielmann, HiFi & Records
 
Ces chansons sur l’exil et l’amour, et aussi sur l’environnement, sont superbes et remarquablement interprétées par la voix d’Elina et par les musiciens qui la mettent en valeur: Rob Luft à la guitare, Mathieu Michel au bugle, Fred Thomas au piano et aux percussions. Six chansons originales, quatre traditionnels et deux reprises: ‘Hier encore’, de Charles Aznavour, et ‘I’m a fool to want you’, de Frank Sinatra. Elina chante en albanais, en italien, en anglais, en français. Sur des musiques élégantes et des arrangements épurés. Et si elle nous émeut dans chacune de ces langues, les larmes reflètent toujours un peu de lumière. Il y a un fugace espoir que le monde change.
Jean-Claude Vantroyen, Le Soir
 
2017 begann Duni die Zusammenarbeit mit Rob Luft, einem jungen Gitarristen der Londoner Szene. Mit ihm schrieb sie nicht weniger als sechs der zwölf Lieder ihres jüngsten Albums ‘Lost Ships’. Der Balkan bleibt mit zwei Traditionals ein Gravitationszentrum, aber der Horizont hat sich geweitet: von einem italienischen Volkslied zu Beginn über die Sinatra- (und Billie-Holiday-)Ballade ‘I’m a Fool to Want You’, einen amerikanischen Folksong bis zu einer berührenden Version von Charles Aznavours ‘Hier encore’. […] Sparsam die Instrumentierung, ein  Teil intimissimo im Duo mit Rob Luft, anderes im  Trio mit dem ebenfalls hochdiskreten Fred Thomas (Piano, Drums) und ein paar Stücke mit kostbaren zusätzlichen Pinselstrichen aus dem Flügelhorn-Sehnsuchtsklang von Matthieu Michel.  
Peter Rüedi, Weltwoche
Lost Ships is the first collaborative album from Elina Duni and Rob Luft. Their programme of songs of love and exile has been gathering momentum since 2017, when the Albanian-Swiss singer and the British guitarist began their collaboration at a series of workshops in Lausanne. And what started as a kind of enhanced version of Duni’s solo Partir project, with Luft expanding the atmospheric sound-world of the songs with electronics and effects, has developed into a partnership where musical parameters are established by both artists, with guitar often effectively a second voice. Along the way the duo has been augmented by distinguished guests. On Lost Ships British multi-instrumentalist Fred Thomas – heard here on piano and percussion – and Swiss flugelhornist Matthieu Michel make significant contributions to the overarching concept.  
 
“This is an album about contemporary issues facing us all,” Duni and Luft explain in an introductory liner note.  Alluded to in song texts and in choice of sources, the migration crisis – a theme explored on Partir – is again a central issue. Lost Ships is “also an album about places we’ve been and loved,” including “places that no longer exist or continue to exist only as a fragment of our imagination.”
 
Material is drawn from many idioms and locations: “There are songs that touch upon past influences, with the sound of Albania and Mediterranean folklore ever-present.  We wanted to explore other musical roots, too: timeless jazz ballads, French chanson, American folk song…”  The broad range of music addressed runs from traditional pieces to original compositions, via songs made famous by Frank Sinatra and Charles Aznavour. “Alongside the gravity that is found in many of the pieces, there is a lightness that pervades throughout, and we believe that this light can and will outshine these troubled times…”  Duni sings in four languages this time – Albanian, English, French, Italian –  a modest total by her own standards (she sang in nine languages on Partir),  and seems to make all of them her own. “Duni’s voice is remarkable,” the UK’s Jazz Journal has observed, “for while it is crystal clear in its multilingual enunciation it is also intimate and expressive in tone.”
 
Born in Tirana, Albania, in 1981, Elina Duni made her first steps on the stage as a singer aged five, singing for National Radio and Television. In 1992, she settled in Geneva, where she started studying classical piano and subsequently discovered jazz. Jazz studies at the Hochschule der Künste in Bern led to the formation of her quartet with Colin Vallon, Patrice Moret and Norbert Pfammatter, a group that lasted for more than 10 years.  The band’s interweaving of Balkan folk songs and improvising on albums including the ECM releases Matanë Malit (Beyond the Mountain) and Dallëndyshe (The Swallow), was widely praised for its subtly and adroitness.
 
The range and reach of Duni’s music, in terms of idioms broached, was enlarged with Partir, and continues to grow. Rob Luft, also drawing upon a wide range of influences, addresses its challenges creatively. Luft, who makes his ECM debut here, was born in South London in 1993. He began playing with Britain’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra at 15, before going on to study at the  Royal Academy of Music. On graduating in 2016 he received the academy’s Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize; the judges, including Evan Parker and Nick Smart, drew attention to Luft’s capacities as improviser, arranger and writer. Subsequently, he has recorded as a leader for the Edition label and worked with musicians including Django Bates, Martin Speake, Kit Downes, Iain Ballamy, Tommy Smith, and many others. Luft is the co-author, with Duni, of several pieces on Lost Ships, including the title track, as well as “Numb”, “Brighton”, “Flying Kites”, “Lux” and “Empty Streets.”
 
Fred Thomas, born 1985 in London, is also making his ECM debut here. Increasingly in-demand as an arranger and producer as well as a player of many instruments, Thomas’s broad experience runs from classical music to jazz, transcultural projects and music for theatre. As well as leading his own diverse projects, he has collaborated with Brian Eno, Martin Speake/Ethan Iverson, Jordi Savall, Jarvis Cocker, Kadialy Kouyate and many more and worked as musical director with the National Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe.  
 
Matthieu Michel, born 1963 in Freiburg im Üechtland, Switzerland, first recorded for ECM in 2013, as a member of Susanne Abbuehl’s ensemble on The Gift.  He is currently a member of Michel Benita’s quartet and can be heard on the group’s new album, Looking At Sounds. Matthieu Michel’s considerable discography includes recordings with the Vienna Art Orchestra, Richard Galliano, Christian and Wolfgang Muthspiel and many others.
 
Lost Ships was recorded at Studios la Buissonne in the South of France in February 2020.
 
CD booklet includes all song texts and an introductory note by Elina Duni and Rob Luft
YEAR DATE VENUE LOCATION
2023 June 02 Wehrkirche Hochneukirchen, Austria
2023 June 05 Porgy & Bess Vienna, Austria
2023 July 13 Montreux Jazz Festival- Memphis Club Montreux, Switzerland
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