Andreas Backer

"Together the four dive, head on, into a thick, intense exploration of various dynamics, textures and timbres. The notion of playing music receives a new meaning with these highly resourceful musicians. They enjoy the innocent and often eccentric, unattached to any musical conventions. A game-like process of playing— finding and inventing sounds, shaping and mutating these sounds, collides these sounds without any preconceived ideas what might happen next, but react immediately to these sonic occurrences. Songs are performed with a rare collaborative and emphatic manner.../...A highly original and inventive quartet."

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"Together the four dive, head on, into a thick, intense exploration of various dynamics, textures and timbres. The notion of playing music receives a new meaning with these highly resourceful musicians. They enjoy the innocent and often eccentric, unattached to any musical conventions. A game-like process of playing— finding and inventing sounds, shaping and mutating these sounds, collides these sounds without any preconceived ideas what might happen next, but react immediately to these sonic occurrences. Songs are performed with a rare collaborative and emphatic manner.../...A highly original and inventive quartet."

- Eyal Hareuveni, All About Jazz

“The level of activity & interaction yields a compelling mix of individual & group conception, making Eye of the Moose consistently appealing. Although the other three musicians fill out the quartet admirably, the star is clearly Backer & his vocal technique: His voice does not dominate the sonority, and might move in & out of textures, but it is active & draws the ear. …/… Although there’s some precedent with e.g. Jaap Blonk, Backer’s vocalization technique is definitely his own. Combine that imaginative technique with rich improvised quartet interaction, and you’ve got a highly compelling first album from these young musicians.”

- Todd McComb’s Jazz Thoughts

http://www.medieval.org/music/jazz

Said about Andy’s Circus, in concert:

“Andreas Backer’s voice has some of the musical-jazz refinement and sensitivity, and can turn into higher tones with ease. As he also sings a bit „off the music” (which is another aspect of the arranging method I mentioned before) and it felt like he was just a little aside of the band. The effect enables the listeners to follow every single piece of the puzzle in the well-built structure of the music of the Andy’s Circus. Andreas is also a really creative person in terms of using his vocal abilities – he was not shy to do some scat, and even throat-singing at times. He did so especially in improvised parts, like during a three-piece composition (consisting of several shorter songs) to lyrics of American poet Robert Creeley, in which the band displayed the wide range of their musical interests, hitting the audience suddenly with a juicy free/improv section.../...This premiere performance of the Norwegians got such a kind of reception, that the pleased musicians came back for an encore. After the concert there was time for autographs and gratitudes, which I’m sure is a good sign for the remainder of the Andy’s Circus Polish tour.”

- Piotr Rudnicki, jazzarium.pl

Said about “Like the music isn’t there”:

“NEW, EXCITING VOICE”

“Andreas Backer is a vocalist, pianist, composer and lyricsist who has walked up a new path…/…Backer is in possession of a warm and genuine voice, and he has excelent pronunciation…/…With his debut, Andreas Backer has told us that he will be a tremendously exciting voice to follow the years to come.”

- Tor Hammerø, Nettavisen

“MUSIC CROSSING BORDERS”

“Male jazz-vocalists doesn’t grow on threes in the world today, but here comes Andreas Backer with an album of “art-pop”and modern European jazz with elements of improvisation…/…Original, different and exciting.”

- Roald Helgheim, Dagsavisen

Said about Ester & Andreas "Vardag":

“Ester and Andreas presents a string of incredibly mundane stories through cool jazz that causes every word and every note to go straight to the heart. Charming from start to finish.”

- Lira Musikmagasin

“A great and moving album with its very own expression.”

- Sydsvenska Dagbladet

“’Vardag’ has become a beautiful and true business card that deserves a large audience”

- Nettavisen

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