In June 2016, Trichotomy stepped back into the studio to record their 5th album, arriving at the session with a collection of new music that extends the interaction in the trio even further through the use of live electronic manipulation of the acoustic sounds. 

“The electronics are giving some really interesting depth to the music and allowing us to improvise in new ways”, John Parker explains. “Sam (bassist) is also bringing music to the group, so we’ve got three compositional voices that we can draw on…. It’s a fresh direction for us, but feels like a strong development on what we’ve been cultivating together”. 

KNOWN-UNKNOWN returns the focus on the trio, with the music rich and deep in dynamic and textural interaction. The opening track “Five” shows the group digging into a relentless bass and piano groove, while “It’s strange coming back” is stunning in the beauty of the melody. “Hemmingways” and “Past Tense” explore meticulously crafted sound worlds through electronics and improvisation, while the disjointed rhythms of “Junk” are compelling. 

4 STARS - "rugged, hooky themes and savvy pacing and drama" - The Guardian 
4 STARS - "this cohesive and exciting trio is back and on track" - All About Jazz 
4 STARTS - Bright, melodic, rhythmic, intelligent and accessible, 2017 continues to find the band in rude creative health and still producing exciting and stimulating music" - The Jazzmann

 TOPOLOGY is recognised as one of Australia’s leading new music groups. Their energetic, full-blooded sound continues to invigorate and reward listeners with it’s progessive approach to contemporary classical group. Combining Violin, Viola, Saxophone, Piano and Double Bass their music is restless and inventive.  A perfect match for TRICHOTOMY, Australia’s most forward thinking jazz trio. This piano, bass and drums trio is known for forging new path for contemporary jazz in Australia and intenationally. Complex, textural and dynamic, but instantly accessible.
 
“HEALTHY” is just that, the heathy combination of like musical minds. Consisting of a blend of works from composers in each ensemble the resulting album is breathaking. Drummer John’s Parker’s dense rhythmic works “Healthy Lifestyle v3” and “Mean” are perfectly balanced with Saxophonist John Babbage’s alluring “Lost at Sea” and the textural “Generations”. TRICHOTOMY pianist Sean Foran contributes the graceful “A New Beginning” and the APRA Jazz Work of the year nominated, “That which is not fleeting”, a work which constantly surprises with it’s twist and turns.Topology Bassist Rob Davidsons’ “Round Roads” is a landscape of musical ideas, dense and complex yet filled with clarity of expression. To round off the album an inventive arrangement of minimalist composer Steve Reichs’ “Clapping Music”, only without the clapping.
One could compare it to the sounds minimalist sounds of Michael Nyman, Terry Riley and Steve Reich, with a touch of Astor Piazolla, and the modern jazz influences of  Pat Metheny. Wrap this up in the visual, cinematic style of Bernard Hermann and the Cinematic Orchestra and you’re getting close. One thing is a certainty, these influences combine to create a sound that is incomparable not only in Australia, but internationally

 The album opens with the upbeat and joyful Strom (meaning stream, current or flow), the catchy The Blank Canvas Part 1 features guitarist James Muller and enhances the albums sense of journey and movement as we set out on our Fact Finding Mission with the trio. The delicate and captivating Lullaby, was written by Parker for his sons. The title track is the most abstract work on the album and utilizes samples, bowed distorted bass, a range of Chinese gongs and other sounds to achieve its chaotic effect. The second track on the album to be inspired by the band’s children, the playful Song For EV, was written for Foran’s daughter and has a delightful rhythmic suppleness. On Civil Unrest (featuring guitarist James Muller and percussionist Tunji Beier) angular melodies and abstract harmonies meld with spacious free improvisations. While The Brook is all about rhythm; contrasting the idea of a dark intense bass groove with a delicate sparse melody. The captivating, rhythmic The Blank Canvas Part 2 transports us through to the beautiful Brick By Brick, which features DVA (Tunji Beier on percussion and Linsey Pollak on reeds) and draws on Eastern European folk melodies alongside modern jazz harmonic movements and freely improvised elements. Pollak’s reeds weave in and out of the trio sounds with Beier’s percussion adding another layer of rhythmic complexity. Dense, but melodically clear, it's a beautiful closer to the album with its sense of melodic finality and earthy folk ideas. It’s this blend of earthy rhythms, beautiful melodies and the freedom of jazz that makes Trichotomy’s Fact Finding Mission so worth joining!

FACT FINDING MISSION is available on CD, Download (incl. Hi Def), VINYL and score book. Click HERE for store

released 04 February 2013
Sean Foran - piano
John Parker - drums
Pat Marchisella - bass

with special guests:
James Muller - Guitar - Tracks 2/6/8
Linsey Pollak - Reeds - Track 9
Tunji Beier - Percussion - Tracks 6/9

Produced by Trichotomy
Recorded by Chris Vallejo at Linear Recording Sydney July 16-20 2012
Mixed by Chris Vallejo & John Parker at Linear Recording
Mastered by Dave Gardner at Magneto Mastering Minneapolis

Art Direction and design by Paul Underwood

Tracks 1, 2, 5, 7-9 composed by S Foran
Tracks 3, 4, 6 composed by J Parker
All tracks arranged by Trichotomy 

 The Gentle War, is the superb new album from Australian piano trio Trichotomy and the follow-up to the band’s critically acclaimed Naim Jazz debut Variations. Recorded shortly after the band’s UK tour early last year it finds the lauded trio in especially dynamic form and while their music could be compared to the likes of EST or The Bad Plus, Foran also cites his time here as an influence on the music - and not just our beer, but bands such as label mates Neil Cowley Trio, John Taylor and Acoustic Ladyland - but The Gentle War is very much the sound of a band developing their own unique sound.

The Gentle War finds the band happily building on the success of Variations but is more tightly focused on the trio itself. Mixed by Brent Sigmeth (The Bad Plus) the album brings a rockier edge to the mix but without compromising on the beauty of the piano sound. It’s an aural reflection of the band’s music, what one critic called their ‘juxtaposition of aggressiveness and tenderness’. Indeed it is this friction which is at the heart of the band’s appeal: Their music is both densely rhythmic and sharply melodic, with Foran’s excellent compositions seeking a balance between heavily notated sections and completely free improvisations and with the trio allowing ideas to develop naturally.