The problem with musical categorizations has always been that they can only crystallize ex post facto, i.e., after a new phenomenon has emerged. In this respect, they always lag a little behind the reality they are trying to capture.

The situation is similar in the case of the LIUN project by Berlin-based musician Lucia Cadotsch. "Does it make you love your life?" is the title of her new album, recorded with Wanja Slavin, which seems to play tricks on all existing genre concepts.

Cadotsch is fortunate in that she doesn't have to worry about this. Instead, she creates a musical reality that, for a fleeting moment, remains free of attributions and thus has room to breathe. She knows how to make use of this freedom, combining apparent opposites such as euphoria and melancholy, polyrhythms and pop-like catchiness to create a consistently unique sound.

For many years now, Cadotsch has been one of the most innovative musicians on the international jazz scene. With multi-instrumentalists Lucy Liebe and Eva Swiderski, as well as Fabian Rösch on drums, she has now put together a gifted live lineup for LIUN. With its polyphonic vocals, hypnotic synthesizers, and intimate acoustics, the quartet reminds us of what music can do when it leaves familiar paths behind in favor of its own radical visions.