Jazz is definitely one of these genres that were always there in the modern music and that will be played until the end of the world, therefore challenging it and creating something original might seem an overwhelming task for artists. However, jazz is also the most flexible type of music, in which there will never be a final word said – it’s like a book written by thousands of writers with another thousands waiting for their time to contribute. One of these writers is Psychic Equalizer, a project by pianist Hugo Selles who gathered a team of musicians around himself, and who recently added a new chapter to the book. It’s called “The Lonely Traveller”.

I always considered jazz to be the music that can make you go into trance. Probably that’s why I prefer listening to musicians like Coltrane or Monk, who used typical jazz instruments, did crazy things with them and then recorded their craziness on vinyl. Although, PE is hard to compare to these two jazzmen (the timespan between them as the first reason alone!), the Spanish musician do possess this jazzy spark. Despite some post-rock inspirations can be heard, Psychic Equalizer feels as a band of a jazzman willing to do something new in jazz, contrary to, for example Bohren & Der Club Of Gore who are rather metalheads willing to play jazz.

Music of Psychic Equalizer is a combination of sniping precision, instrumental skill and realization that in music you can do anything you want. The result are twelve impeccably constructed coherent songs. This is not an album that fits only a single occasion – it can be either listened to as a background, but also with headphones and lights turned off, when you get the most out of the music. Personally, I enjoyed it the most when running around my hometown – Psychic Equalizer’s modern and spacious jazz perfectly corresponded to quick shifts of architectural images and surroundings.

Despite being two separate spirits on this album, guitar and piano reinforce each other perfectly, which can be heard the most in an otherwordly intro for “An Ocean of Changes (I-IV)” – my favorite track from “The Lonely Traveller”. The struggle and friendship between guitar and piano is wrapped around incredibly timed drumming.

Seems like the hard task of creating something new in jazz is not that hard when you give it to the right people, and Psychic Equalizer are surely these kind of men. They don’t try to get the hype, instead they do what they feel like doing the most. That’s why “The Lonely Traveller” is full of life, professionalism and comfort. They all know their strengths and limitations (for example, Selles has no limits!) and they do implement this into their music creating a sophisticated piece of music which is a little gem in the jazz book.

“The Lonely Traveller” is available now; you can get a copy here.