CD - Creative Sources Recordings - CS894, Lisbon 2026
1. I - 03'26''
2. II - 01'41''
3. III - 01'38''
4. IV - 03'12''
5. V - 01'30''
6. VI - 02'53''
7. VII - 03'20''
8. VIII - 03'25''
9. IX - 01'56''
10. X - 03'53''
11. XI - 02'19''
12. XII - 02'25''
13. XIII - 02'31''
14. XIV - 01'25''
15. XV - 04'03''
16. XVI - 03'19''
17. XVII - 03'35''
18. XVIII - 01'40''
Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola
Guilherme Rodrigues - Cello
Jung-Jae Kim - Tenor Saxophone
Andreas Willers - Acoustic Guitar
Recorded March 2026, Berlin
Cover design Carlos Santos
Reviews
Fragments of the Unseen suggests a completely different kind of free improvisation. It is the second album of the chamber, acoustic, free improvising quartet of violist Ernesto Rodrigues, cellist Guilherme Rodrigues, their frequent collaborator, Korean, Berlin-based tenor sax player Jung-Jae Kim, and German guitarist Andreas Willers, following the live recording of Points of Dichotomy (Creative Sources, 2025). But the studio recording of Fragments of the Unseen was captured seven months before Points of Dichotomy, and whereas the live recording featured two extended pieces, this studio one offers nineteen short fragments. Fragments of the Unseen focuses on concise and reductionist, patient, deep listening and carefully balanced improvisations, focusing on introspective, restrained textures, exploring tension, complementary string resonances, friction, and fragmentation, employing extended bowing and breathing techniques, and most of the time avoiding dramatic sonic collisions. Eyal Hareuveni (Salt Peanuts)
Fragments of the Unseen (recorded last month) then reprises the quartet formation from Points of Dichotomy (recorded in October 2025), as noted here in the review of quintet Crossing the Floor (in December). The latter was already a reprise featuring Ernesto & Guilherme Rodrigues with Jung-Jae Kim (tenor sax), while Points of Dichotomy — recorded the following day — replaced its drums & electronics with Andreas Willers (on acoustic guitar). For the nineteen short tracks of Fragments of the Unseen, Ernesto Rodrigues also eschews crackle box, making for an all-acoustic quartet — with Willers' work here on acoustic differing substantially from some other recent releases on electric guitar, e.g. his latest with Udo Schindler, Analytical Pre-Summer Retreat (recorded last May), where he continues to project a sustained, organ-esque sound world.... And then the Rodrigueses were most recently together here for quartet Untitled Dream (as noted in a review last month), there featuring electronics more than usual, but also suggesting a series of studies.... So Fragments of the Unseen continues Ernesto Rodrigues' extensive post-Cage explorations, immediately with a sense of quiet & acoustics, subtle ringing tones developing an ongoing sense of both space & interaction.... It also takes up the "ghostly" orientation of Crossing the Floor (pace Kim...), now almost more as a catalog of material (or series of studies...), often gestural, sometimes emerging as surprisingly assertive. Versus the relatively more blunt juxtapositions of Points of Dichotomy though, Fragments of the Unseen also enjoys a more subtle & sophisticated interaction overall, presumably deriving from the quartet's previous experience together. Is the result a single tapestry? It does come off well in a single sitting, but also suggests less the sense of filling spans of time (pace Cage) than of sculpting time per se (again per Kim & pace the prior review of Crossing...). And for this newest album, that sculpting is then more via series of gestures or vignettes, often fleeting themselves & so invoking senses of transition & transformation & emergence. Fragments of the Unseen is a relatively lengthy album, seemingly often merging with everyday sounds, but I've usually also been wishing it'd continue... maybe all day. (It's definitely more appealing than the usual clatter & now e.g. aircraft noise around my place.) Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts
