District Five Burn the Sugar

March 25 saw the release of Zurich quartet District Five’s long-awaited debut album, “Burnt Sugar”, by A Tree in a Field Records.

Named after the part of Zurich where they all live, District Five present themselves more like a community event than a conventional band. Alongside this, their long-term project, the members of the group – Tapiwa Svovse (sax, synth, voc), Paul Amereller (perc, voc), Vojko Huter (guitar, synth, voc), Xaver Rüegg (bass, voc) – have always played in a variety of other outfits, ranging in style from free improvisation to more conventional forms of jazz, and the noisier side of rock. Still only in their twenties, the band have for many years also run a festival of experimental music, the Gamut Festival.

“When we began, we drew on a host of influences from old and new jazz because we wanted to be a brilliant jazz band with their own style”, the band say. “Today, our sound is a reflection of everything we like to listen to individually. We could take a different route at any moment. This thought leaves of lot of room for things to happen.”

“Burnt Sugar” fizzes with ideas. Driven by a fearlessly propulsive rhythm section, the pieces veer wildly and joyously between math rock, the outer regions of jazz, moody electronica and the odd passage of minimalist simplicity.

District Five
A Tree in a Field Records