The Audience by Eyal Talmudi & Rejoicer

The Audience is 10 tracks of stripped-down, beautifully flowing free jazz: Talmudi perpetually weaving in and out of cosmic melodies and Rejoicer setting his partner’s sax afloat with echoing pianos and quivering synths. The friends dreamed up the project in late 2020 — a truly minimal sound, ideas distilled to their essence — and recorded through fall 2021. All the compositions were improvised and recorded on the spot, each song unpredictable. “You can feel that it’s live,” says Talmudi. “These songs are breathing. The music is happening right before you.” Rejoicer reigned in Talmudi’s frenetic, chaotic playing to match their psychedelic lullaby vision: “He managed to get me into the studio and play soft and melodic,” says Talmudi. That’s no easy feat — and the result is straight out of a dream you don’t want to wake up from.