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Press
“Naukkarinen manages to take a million-and-one risks while keeping things subtle, understated, aesthetically intriguing, and emotionally resonant.“
“There’s always been elements of tranquility to Parzen-Johnson’s solo works, but of the melancholy sort. Agitation and unsettling undertones, too. This collaboration with Lau Nau amplifies those qualities exponentially, a clear indication of the bird-of-a-feather nature of their creative relationship.“
“Avoids the typical tropes of avant-garde jazz or ambient electronic music, opting instead for a conversational intimacy that feels like eavesdropping on a private internal monologue.“
“On an old-school modular synth, Lau Nau began with deceptively simple DNA-like spirals, an elegant structure for Parzen-Johnson’s understated baritone sax explorations.“
“Parzen-Johnson’s horn sounds mellow and brooding in the style of John Surman over Laukkarinen’s minimalist, gradually evolving synth meshes.“
Sounds Like
Lau Nau (Finland) plays introspective modular synth soundscapes to contextualize Parzen-Johnson’s (New York) one-of-a-kind, vibrating and intimate baritone saxophone playing.
Ambient, improvised, contemplative
Details
Band Members
Lau Nau – Modular Synthesizer, Samples, Little Instruments
Jonah Parzen-Johnson – Baritone Saxophone
Discography
2025 – A Few We Remember (We Jazz Records)
Video
Bio
A Few We Remember, the debut album from Finnish composer Lau Nau, aka Laura Naukkarinen, and American baritone saxophonist Jonah Parzen-Johnson cycles between moments of knotty ambience, whispered melody, and innocent tinkering, as the duo improvises over 8 narrative scores composed by Parzen-Johnson. Narrative scores? Don’t worry, Jonah can explain:
“For me, telling a story is about more than sharing a set of facts. A well told story is the protective coating around our most intimate and universal feelings. Things too delicate to name. When I want to understand how someone makes me feel, I tell myself our story. There are familiar stories of family and friends, but the story of a quick moment with a stranger can sometimes be the most illuminating. A brief interaction whose fractional reflection helps us understand ourselves in a new way.”
“A lot of my musical practice is about trying to find that same storytelling sensation in the experience of performing. That’s how I got going on these narrative scores. Each one is a story you can read, but it’s more than that, it’s a trigger for a sensation. If all goes well, that’s what makes it into our improvisation. It might be tempting to ask to read the scores, but try to resist. This music isn’t about the stories, it’s about how it feels to tell them.”
Jonah Parzen-Johnson & Lau Nau are each prolific and celebrated creators on their own, with 22 albums released between the two of them, but in this fresh conversation, something completely new comes to life. In Laura’s words: “I enjoy recording live takes without overdubs, and this album is exactly that – pure first takes, bubbling creative energy happening in the moment. Jonah’s written stories gave a powerful spark and direction for our improvisations, but the album reminds me of a chemical reaction: a result that is impossible without both of our inputs, and a surprise to each of us.”
On the debut single, First Time Viewer, it is almost impossible to tell where Jonah’s fragile baritone saxophone melody begins and where Lau’s live-sampled, processed, and re-synthesized accompaniment ends. As the improvisation develops, a cloud of ethereal fragments forms into a lattice of melody and texture strong enough to support the entire track. We don’t know how this music can sound both delicate and resilient at the same time, but we love it.
