Both are unmistakable and genre-crossing solitaires of the international jazz scene, together they have been playing for years in the quartet A Novel Of Anomaly: Swiss vocal acrobat Andreas Schaerer and Finnish guitarist Kalle Kalima, who always conjures something special out of his instrument. Now they have recorded their first album focused entirely on themselves, but for this "evolution" (as the title) they have given themselves some special input. Their music is based on the American bassist Tim Lefebvre, who has accompanied various jazz and pop stars from Mark Guiliana and Wayne Krantz to Sting, Elvis Costello or David Bowie with his playing that shifts between all genres and was not uninvolved in the breakthrough of the Michael Wollny Trio. Those who have followed Schaerer and Kalima's work over the years might initially be surprised by "Evolution." "An album is a very different platform than the live stage. Over the course of our many recordings, we've become increasingly aware that you have to play that differently in each case," Schaerer explains. Evolution" was produced all the more carefully. It's a pop quality that Schaerer describes there, and in fact you could almost call "Evolution" a singer/songwriter project, so focused is it on songs and lyrics. "It's been going in this direction with us for quite some time, with Kalle for example with Kuu!, with me most recently also with Hildegard lernt fliegen." Schaerer is here more than ever a singer and uses his typical vocal escapades - clicking and popping sounds, beatboxing and vocalises polyphonically layered on top of each other or even the imitation of wind instruments - rather sparingly. "But it's not a drawing board construction," Schaerer emphasizes. "We didn't say, 'we're just going to do songs now,' but the pieces came about very naturally. 'Pristine Dawn' is a good example: there was a song structure and lyrics, but no melody. The studio recording is the moment when it was composed. The recording is the 'first take,' it just flowed perfectly, so you don't even notice the 11-bar structure, which is actually very weird." It works in a similar way on all the tracks, for which equal parts of Schaerer and Kalima contributed the idea and lyrics (three are by Kalima's wife Essi) before developing it together in the studio. And so each piece bears an unmistakable, very personal signature. Musically but also in the lyrics carried by the lyrics. "Kalle and I have also processed very personal, intimate thoughts and experiences in some lyrics. And, of course, it's also about what's currently bothering us in the world, from artificial intelligence to the titular question of whether evolution is stagnating." "Rapid Eye Movement," for example, shows Kalima's penchant for folky colors, while Schaerer's psychedelic "Trigger" takes him into falsetto at the beginning and end. On the title track, things get pretty wild in between, before the piece fades out in a free and improvised manner befitting the title. The fast "Multitasking" with its also humorous language play, a "Mouth-Trumpet-Solo" and its philosophical theme is just as typical Schaerer as the very quiet and lyrical "So Far", once sung only onomatopoeic. On the almost film-musical "Song Yet Untitled" or the melancholic "Sphere" Kalima again lets his guitar sing as only he can. What both bring together always results in "more than just the sum of the parts," as Schaerer enthusiastically states. And then there's Tim Lefebvre, who fueled the two sometimes on electric bass, sometimes on upright bass (with a nice solo intro on "Piercing Love"). "We played with Tim for the first time at the big Jubilee concert celebrating 30 years of ACT. The chemistry was so good that we decided to stay in touch. When I called him about 'Evolution,' he didn't hesitate for a second either," Schaerer says. "It was then really impressive how quickly he was able to connect emotionally with the music. It's insane how he grooves on 'SloMo,' for example, and we were able to play ourselves into a frenzy like that over Kalle's guitar specification." So in the end it is an exemplary "evolution" for modern jazz productions that Schaerer, Kalima and Lefebvre demonstrate here: An album constantly opening up new facets, full of complex yet fluid, catchy songs that you want to listen to again and again. But you can also be sure that it will sound completely different live.