Subsystem – Subsystem

Almut Schlichting Baritonsaxophon, Komposition
Sven Hinse Kontrabass, Komposition

SUBSYSTEM are low-frequency specialists. Imaginative, shrewd and virtuosic, the two musicians from Berlin explore the possibilities of baritone saxophone and double bass. The deep sounds of the large instruments, which are seldom heard individually, come into their own in this duo formation.

In the compositions of the two musicians, funky riffs, African grooves and energetic solos in the best jazz tradition meet folkloristic melodies, subtly woven sound carpets and bizarre humor. In the flowing transition between improvisation and composition, the duo unfolds a wealth of playing possibilities that makes you forget the minimalist instrumentation.

Almut Schlichting and Sven Hinse have been playing together in various bands for 20 years, 10 of them in the duo Subsystem. The result is a somnambulistic certainty in their interplay, which is impressively audible in the dialogue of the two deep instruments in the concerts and on the three CDs “Unterholz” (2016), “Schneekönig” (2019) and Drei“ (2022).

“Above all, it’s great fun to listen to Hinse rhythmically slamming the strings of his double bass on the fingerboard, while Schlichting takes her baritone saxophone into the high register with overblowing techniques and split sounds, for example.”
JAZZthing homegrown, Martin Laurentius