FIRE! ORCHESTRA - Forced Exposure

$16.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 8/30/2024

Now in its 14th year, the unique and constantly evolving Fire! Orchestra is back with their largest line-up so far, counting an international cast of no less than 43 members that includes mainstay singer Mariam Wallentin as well as newcomers David Sandström and Joe McPhee, both on vocals, McPhee also on tenor sax. The popular and widely praised Arrival (RCD 2205CD/RLP 3205LP, 2019) is a highlight in both our and the band's catalog, but this epic triple album ups the ante. While following in the great tradition of ensembles led by the likes of Carla Bley, George Russell, and Keith Tippett, Echoes is firmly placed in 2022 and takes in elements of rock, jazz, folk, electronic, classical, and contemporary music. Starting out with the working title Big Bang, the near two-hour piece had its concert premiere at Stockholm Jazz Festival in October 2022 to rapturous applause from a full house, with major national newspaper Dagens Nyheter calling it a feast for eyes and ears in their ecstatic review. The core elements of Echoes are the seven self-titled parts, each mostly over ten minutes in duration, interspersed with shorter pieces where you find a string quartet, an "African" stretch and generally music of an exploratory and experimental nature. Considering the size of the orchestra and the somewhat intimidating working title, this is a very open, breathing, organic, detailed and dynamic recording with a lot of space. As previously, a defining base element in the music is the repetitive and hypnotic grooves from the main rhythm section of bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werliin. Needless to say, the hand-picked musicians are all on a very high level and on top of their game, conducted by Mats Gustafsson but given free reign when it's called for. And Jim O'Rourke was given free reign when it came to the selections and the mix and is a big part in how the final album turned out. The album closes with a vigorous tribute from Joe McPhee to one of the late, great masters, McPhee being a pretty decent finger wiggler himself, to say the least. Echoes was mostly written by Fire! founders Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin and recorded at the legendary Atlantis studio in Stockholm in March of 2022. It was mixed by Jim O'Rourke in Japan in the course of two autumn months. The mastering and vinyl cut was done by loop-o mastering in Berlin, making for a fantastic sounding album, especially the vinyl edition is a real treat.

$79.00 NOT IN STOCK

Triple LP version. Now in its 14th year, the unique and constantly evolving Fire! Orchestra is back with their largest line-up so far, counting an international cast of no less than 43 members that includes mainstay singer Mariam Wallentin as well as newcomers David Sandström and Joe McPhee, both on vocals, McPhee also on tenor sax. The popular and widely praised Arrival (RCD 2205CD/RLP 3205LP, 2019) is a highlight in both our and the band's catalog, but this epic triple album ups the ante. While following in the great tradition of ensembles led by the likes of Carla Bley, George Russell, and Keith Tippett, Echoes is firmly placed in 2022 and takes in elements of rock, jazz, folk, electronic, classical, and contemporary music. Starting out with the working title Big Bang, the near two-hour piece had its concert premiere at Stockholm Jazz Festival in October 2022 to rapturous applause from a full house, with major national newspaper Dagens Nyheter calling it a feast for eyes and ears in their ecstatic review. The core elements of Echoes are the seven self-titled parts, each mostly over ten minutes in duration, interspersed with shorter pieces where you find a string quartet, an "African" stretch and generally music of an exploratory and experimental nature. Considering the size of the orchestra and the somewhat intimidating working title, this is a very open, breathing, organic, detailed and dynamic recording with a lot of space. As previously, a defining base element in the music is the repetitive and hypnotic grooves from the main rhythm section of bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werliin. Needless to say, the hand-picked musicians are all on a very high level and on top of their game, conducted by Mats Gustafsson but given free reign when it's called for. And Jim O'Rourke was given free reign when it came to the selections and the mix and is a big part in how the final album turned out. The album closes with a vigorous tribute from Joe McPhee to one of the late, great masters, McPhee being a pretty decent finger wiggler himself, to say the least. Echoes was mostly written by Fire! founders Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin and recorded at the legendary Atlantis studio in Stockholm in March of 2022. It was mixed by Jim O'Rourke in Japan in the course of two autumn months. The mastering and vinyl cut was done by loop-o mastering in Berlin, making for a fantastic sounding album, especially the vinyl edition is a real treat.

$14.50 NOT IN STOCK

Original score by Krzysztof Penderecki. New reading and conduction by Mats Gustafsson. The first (and until now only?) recorded interpretation of Krzysztof Penderecki's Actions For Free Jazz Orchestra took place in 1971 at Donaueschingen and featured the New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra, assembled by Don Cherry for the occasion and conducted by the great Polish composer. That orchestra also consisted of 14 musicians, including international jazz heavyweights such as Kenny Wheeler, Peter Brötzmann, Thomasz Stanko, Terje Rypdal, Han Bennink, and others. Don Cherry himself did not perform. Penderecki had heard the Globe Unity Orchestra a couple of years earlier and was fascinated by the possibilities of working with musicians from a different background and with other perspectives than he was used to from the classical world. The challenge for all involved was to find the right balance between composition and improvisation. The idea was initially met with some skepticism from the musicians, but this soon gave way to acceptance and even eagerness. The new, extended reading by Mats Gustafsson and Fire! Orchestra was commissioned by the Sacrum Profanum festival in Kraków, Poland in 2018. The idea was to place this classic piece in a contemporary setting, with a new approach and a new body of sound. However, the original score was used as a platform for the new reading, connecting history with the present. A score in this context is most often of a graphic nature to present reference points, visualized on the sleeve by Kim Hiorthøy's cut-up adaption of Mats Gustafsson's score. It's also worth noticing that the instrumentation is more or less identical to that of 1971, the main difference being a tuba replacing one of the trombones. Finally, this new reading clocks in at 40 minutes, and is thus considerably longer than the 1971 version. This line-up of the Fire! Orchestra is unique in that it's the first time without founding members and singers Mariam Wallentin and Sofia Jernberg. It's also the first time with guitarist Reine Fiske.

$26.50 IN STOCK

LP version. Original score by Krzysztof Penderecki. New reading and conduction by Mats Gustafsson. The first (and until now only?) recorded interpretation of Krzysztof Penderecki's Actions For Free Jazz Orchestra took place in 1971 at Donaueschingen and featured the New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra, assembled by Don Cherry for the occasion and conducted by the great Polish composer. That orchestra also consisted of 14 musicians, including international jazz heavyweights such as Kenny Wheeler, Peter Brötzmann, Thomasz Stanko, Terje Rypdal, Han Bennink, and others. Don Cherry himself did not perform. Penderecki had heard the Globe Unity Orchestra a couple of years earlier and was fascinated by the possibilities of working with musicians from a different background and with other perspectives than he was used to from the classical world. The challenge for all involved was to find the right balance between composition and improvisation. The idea was initially met with some skepticism from the musicians, but this soon gave way to acceptance and even eagerness. The new, extended reading by Mats Gustafsson and Fire! Orchestra was commissioned by the Sacrum Profanum festival in Kraków, Poland in 2018. The idea was to place this classic piece in a contemporary setting, with a new approach and a new body of sound. However, the original score was used as a platform for the new reading, connecting history with the present. A score in this context is most often of a graphic nature to present reference points, visualized on the sleeve by Kim Hiorthøy's cut-up adaption of Mats Gustafsson's score. It's also worth noticing that the instrumentation is more or less identical to that of 1971, the main difference being a tuba replacing one of the trombones. Finally, this new reading clocks in at 40 minutes, and is thus considerably longer than the 1971 version. This line-up of the Fire! Orchestra is unique in that it's the first time without founding members and singers Mariam Wallentin and Sofia Jernberg. It's also the first time with guitarist Reine Fiske.

$29.00 NOT IN STOCK

Double LP version. Includes CD. Their first two albums, Exit (RCD 2138CD/RLP 3138LP, 2013) and Enter (RCD 2158CD/RLP 3158LP, 2014), were presented with sizable and ambitious line-ups of 28 musicians. Ritual (RCD 2182CD/RLP 3182LP, 2016) saw it reduced to 21 and with Arrival it's been trimmed down to a "mere" 14, with the core trio of Fire! (Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin) and the two singers Mariam Wallentin and Sofia Jernberg being the only constant members since the beginning. Apart from this reduction, the main line-up difference is the introduction of a string quartet. This "cleanup" has worked wonders, keeping the rhythm and horn sections to their bare necessities, with the string quartet expanding the canvas and bringing a new, exciting dimension to the table. And on top of their game; the two powerful and sublime singers, quite different, but still blending perfectly. Drummer and producer Andreas Werliin should also be mentioned for his work in the audio department; rarely has there been such a detailed, warm, deep and dynamic mix from a relatively complex combination of instruments. Arrival is a collection of more individual compositions and songs, including two stunning cover versions. "Blue Crystal Fire" by visionary guitarist Robbie Basho was first heard on his 1978 album Visions of the Country. "At Last I Am Free" was originally written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rogers of Chic. Although the rest of the tracks are credited to Berthling, Gustafsson, Werliin and Wallentin, it's important to stress that this time the orchestra members have had considerable creative input throughout the process. Arrival is light and shade, joy and despair, structure and improvisation, performed by an ensemble of excellent musicians.

$14.50 IN STOCK

Their first two albums, Exit (RCD 2138CD/RLP 3138LP, 2013) and Enter (RCD 2158CD/RLP 3158LP, 2014), were presented with sizable and ambitious line-ups of 28 musicians. Ritual (RCD 2182CD/RLP 3182LP, 2016) saw it reduced to 21 and with Arrival it's been trimmed down to a "mere" 14, with the core trio of Fire! (Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin) and the two singers Mariam Wallentin and Sofia Jernberg being the only constant members since the beginning. Apart from this reduction, the main line-up difference is the introduction of a string quartet. This "cleanup" has worked wonders, keeping the rhythm and horn sections to their bare necessities, with the string quartet expanding the canvas and bringing a new, exciting dimension to the table. And on top of their game; the two powerful and sublime singers, quite different, but still blending perfectly. Drummer and producer Andreas Werliin should also be mentioned for his work in the audio department; rarely has there been such a detailed, warm, deep and dynamic mix from a relatively complex combination of instruments. Arrival is a collection of more individual compositions and songs, including two stunning cover versions. "Blue Crystal Fire" by visionary guitarist Robbie Basho was first heard on his 1978 album Visions of the Country. "At Last I Am Free" was originally written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rogers of Chic. Although the rest of the tracks are credited to Berthling, Gustafsson, Werliin and Wallentin, it's important to stress that this time the orchestra members have had considerable creative input throughout the process. Arrival is light and shade, joy and despair, structure and improvisation, performed by an ensemble of excellent musicians.

$26.50 IN STOCK

Double LP version. Includes CD. Fire! Orchestra follow their acclaimed 2014 album Enter (RCD 2158CD/RLP 3158LP) with Ritual, slimming the ensemble down from 28 of northern Europe's finest jazz and improvisational musicians to a mere 21. Since the release of Enter, this energetic and dynamic mass ensemble has gone from intimate jazz settings to the main hall at the Molde International Jazz Festival and a major stage at the prestigious Roskilde Festival. As brilliant as Enter is, with Ritual they have outdone themselves and produced a beast of beauty and power, extremely well executed, beautifully recorded, and produced from only two days in the studio. Free improvisations, spontaneous horns, keyboard frenzy, abstract electronics, and guitar mayhem, not to mention those glorious twin voices from heaven and hell. It's about mysteries and rituals in music and in life. Fire! originated as the trio of Swedish improv masters Mats Gustafsson (sax), Johan Berthling (bass), and Andreas Werliin (drums). None of them are what one would call jazz purists; they all play in many different groups and contexts, including The Thing (Gustafsson), experimental folk-electronica outfit Tape (Berthling), and skewed blues-pop unit Wildbirds & Peacedrums (Werliin). Those important singers, Sofia Jernberg and Mariam Wallentin, have been on board since the beginning, and the same goes for horn players Niklas Barnö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mats Äleklint, Per Åke Holmlander, and Anna Högberg. Basically a Swedish ensemble, the orchestra also counts Norwegian, Danish, and French players among its ranks. Members of Fire! Orchestra share a wide background, combining jazz, improvised music, contemporary music, rock, garage, psych, and more. As they proclaim on their website, "please make up your own genre and mind -- listen freely -- don't buy our labeling attempts...labeling sucks."

$17.00 IN STOCK

Fire! Orchestra follow their acclaimed 2014 album Enter (RCD 2158CD/RLP 3158LP) with Ritual, slimming the ensemble down from 28 of northern Europe's finest jazz and improvisational musicians to a mere 21. Since the release of Enter, this energetic and dynamic mass ensemble has gone from intimate jazz settings to the main hall at the Molde International Jazz Festival and a major stage at the prestigious Roskilde Festival. As brilliant as Enter is, with Ritual they have outdone themselves and produced a beast of beauty and power, extremely well executed, beautifully recorded, and produced from only two days in the studio. Free improvisations, spontaneous horns, keyboard frenzy, abstract electronics, and guitar mayhem, not to mention those glorious twin voices from heaven and hell. It's about mysteries and rituals in music and in life. Fire! originated as the trio of Swedish improv masters Mats Gustafsson (sax), Johan Berthling (bass), and Andreas Werliin (drums). None of them are what one would call jazz purists; they all play in many different groups and contexts, including The Thing (Gustafsson), experimental folk-electronica outfit Tape (Berthling), and skewed blues-pop unit Wildbirds & Peacedrums (Werliin). Those important singers, Sofia Jernberg and Mariam Wallentin, have been on board since the beginning, and the same goes for horn players Niklas Barnö, Jonas Kullhammar, Mats Äleklint, Per Åke Holmlander, and Anna Högberg. Basically a Swedish ensemble, the orchestra also counts Norwegian, Danish, and French players among its ranks. Members of Fire! Orchestra share a wide background, combining jazz, improvised music, contemporary music, rock, garage, psych, and more. As they proclaim on their website, "please make up your own genre and mind -- listen freely -- don't buy our labeling attempts...labeling sucks."

$26.50 NOT IN STOCK

Gatefold double LP version. It can't be easy gathering 28 of Northern Europe's finest jazz and improvising musicians in one place at the same time, which is why Sweden's Fire! Orchestra has been one of the continent's best-kept secrets so far. After playing rare shows a handful of times a year, this incredible mass ensemble is getting ready to unleash its full power with Enter, its first studio recording. This isn't jazz: this is Nordic dynamite. Fire! originated as the trio of Swedish improv masters Mats Gusfasson (sax), Johan Berthling (bass) and Andreas Werliin (drums). None of them are what you could call jazz purists; they all play in many different groups and contexts, including The Thing (Gustafsson), experimental folk-electronica outfit Tape (Berthling), and skewed pop unit Wildbirds And Peacedrums (Werliin). Around 2011, the idea sprang up to expand a massive orchestra around the core trio, featuring the cream of Scandinavian jazz, improvisation and avant-rock players and vocalists. Key contributions come from keyboardists Sten Sandell, trumpeter Goran Kajfes (Oddjob, Subtropic Arkestra, Nordic Music Prize winner 2012), drummers Raymond Strid (GUSH, Barry Guy, Martin Küchen Ensemble) and Johan Holmegard (Dungen, The Amazing), guitarist David Stackenäs, electronicist Joachim Nordwall (Skull Defekts, iDEAL Records) and Fender Rhodes player Martin Hederos (Soundtrack Of Our Lives), to name just a few. Adding a crucial, soulful presence are the three vocalists Mariam Wallentin (Wildbirds And Peacedrums), Ethiopian singer Sofie Jernberg and Simon Ohlsson (Silverbullit). But Fire! Orchestra is a collective effort, with Gustafsson directing a tight, disciplined ensemble that enjoys its moments let off the leash. Following 2013's live debut Exit! (RCD 2138CD/RLP 3159LP), Enter is Fire! Orchestra's first time in the studio, and might surprise you with its slow, treacle-y funk dynamics, running through a kaleidoscope of moods, rhythms, and textures. Muscular rock rhythms flesh out texts written by singer Mariam Wallentin, inspired by the legendary free jazz saxophonist Joe McPhee, and sung in soured blues moans by the Orchestra's three-headed vocal team. Recalling the righteous big-band jazz of the late '60s by figures such as Charlie Haden, Sun Ra, Mike Westbrook and Chris McGregor, there are also echoes of Matana Roberts' recent jazz tapestries and the steamy psych-funk of Brightblack Morning Light. "Part Two" opens on a groove ripped from The Beatles' psychedelic classic "Tomorrow Never Knows." Using collective riffing at its finest, this is an epic suite that undergoes constant scene-shifts between relentlessly building rhythms, rising in emotional intensity as the furnace is stoked. Enter is about following your instincts, having the courage to step forwards into the unknown when the door is open. Death might be an exit, but it's also an entrance -- to a new, unimaginable state of being. The music acts out this cyclical pattern of living and dying, entering and exiting, and the finale winds down to the same reflective, introspective keyboard motif as it started with.

$17.00 NOT IN STOCK

It can't be easy gathering 28 of Northern Europe's finest jazz and improvising musicians in one place at the same time, which is why Sweden's Fire! Orchestra has been one of the continent's best-kept secrets so far. After playing rare shows a handful of times a year, this incredible mass ensemble is getting ready to unleash its full power with Enter, its first studio recording. This isn't jazz: this is Nordic dynamite. Fire! originated as the trio of Swedish improv masters Mats Gusfasson (sax), Johan Berthling (bass) and Andreas Werliin (drums). None of them are what you could call jazz purists; they all play in many different groups and contexts, including The Thing (Gustafsson), experimental folk-electronica outfit Tape (Berthling), and skewed pop unit Wildbirds And Peacedrums (Werliin). Around 2011, the idea sprang up to expand a massive orchestra around the core trio, featuring the cream of Scandinavian jazz, improvisation and avant-rock players and vocalists. Key contributions come from keyboardists Sten Sandell, trumpeter Goran Kajfes (Oddjob, Subtropic Arkestra, Nordic Music Prize winner 2012), drummers Raymond Strid (GUSH, Barry Guy, Martin Küchen Ensemble) and Johan Holmegard (Dungen, The Amazing), guitarist David Stackenäs, electronicist Joachim Nordwall (Skull Defekts, iDEAL Records) and Fender Rhodes player Martin Hederos (Soundtrack Of Our Lives), to name just a few. Adding a crucial, soulful presence are the three vocalists Mariam Wallentin (Wildbirds And Peacedrums), Ethiopian singer Sofie Jernberg and Simon Ohlsson (Silverbullit). But Fire! Orchestra is a collective effort, with Gustafsson directing a tight, disciplined ensemble that enjoys its moments let off the leash. Following 2013's live debut Exit! (RCD 2138CD/RLP 3159LP), Enter is Fire! Orchestra's first time in the studio, and might surprise you with its slow, treacle-y funk dynamics, running through a kaleidoscope of moods, rhythms, and textures. Muscular rock rhythms flesh out texts written by singer Mariam Wallentin, inspired by the legendary free jazz saxophonist Joe McPhee, and sung in soured blues moans by the Orchestra's three-headed vocal team. Recalling the righteous big-band jazz of the late '60s by figures such as Charlie Haden, Sun Ra, Mike Westbrook and Chris McGregor, there are also echoes of Matana Roberts' recent jazz tapestries and the steamy psych-funk of Brightblack Morning Light. "Part Two" opens on a groove ripped from The Beatles' psychedelic classic "Tomorrow Never Knows." Using collective riffing at its finest, this is an epic suite that undergoes constant scene-shifts between relentlessly building rhythms, rising in emotional intensity as the furnace is stoked. Enter is about following your instincts, having the courage to step forwards into the unknown when the door is open. Death might be an exit, but it's also an entrance -- to a new, unimaginable state of being. The music acts out this cyclical pattern of living and dying, entering and exiting, and the finale winds down to the same reflective, introspective keyboard motif as it started with.

$17.00 NOT IN STOCK

Fire! is a Swedish trio comprising Mats Gustafsson (The Thing), Johan Berthling (Tape) and drummer Andreas Werliin (Wildbirds & Peacedrums). Fire! is where they go to stretch their instrumental skills and to play outside their comfort zones, or collaborate with prestigious guests (see their previous Rune Grammofon releases You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago [2009], Unreleased? with Jim O'Rourke (2011), and In the Mouth a Hand with Oren Ambarchi (2012). Fire! Orchestra takes the project to the next level: a sonic behemoth comprising 31 members that should be unmanageable, but turns out to possess the elegance and lucidity of the righteous free-jazz big bands of the past. Charlie Haden's Liberation Orchestra. Carla Bley's Escalator Over the Hill. Centipede. Sun Ra's Space Is the Place. Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath. Freddie Hubbard & Ilhan Mimaroglu's Sing Me a Song of Songmy. All these classic landmarks come to mind as you listen to their monumental Exit!. This album was recorded in January 2012 at the headquarters of Fylkingen, the legendary Stockholm avant-garde music center. But before you go thinking this is an impenetrable free-jazz meltdown, listen again. Exit! follows in these mighty footprints, but it's also an odyssey that takes its own route, with post-rock/Krautrock diversions along the way. There is a way in to Exit!, and the way out is clearly sign-posted. Fire! is all about burning up tradition and blazing new paths and fresh approaches in improvised music -- approaches informed equally by garage punk, electroacoustics and the noise of heavy industry. Throughout both long halves of Exit!, Mariam Wallentin and Sofie Jernberg chant ritualistic lyrics written by Arnold de Boer of Dutch avant-rock institution, The Ex. The text, he explains, is about concrete and non-concrete space, "and about the possibility of improvising in actual space, and the ties, ropes and teachers in many online spaces and programs.  It's up to the various sorts of fire to define the real, irreal, surreal and unreal." Exit! might be a monotonous monolith of repetitive beats, or a tornado-eye of wild solos, but it has a point to make. Members include: Mats Gustafsson (alto/bass saxophones), Johan Berthling (electric bass), Andreas Werliin (drums), Sten Sandell (piano/electronics), Raymond Strid (drums), Mariam Wallentin (voice), Sofia Jernberg (voice), Fredrik Ljungkvist (baritone sax/clarinet), Andreas Söderström (guitar), David Stackenäs (guitar), Joachim Nordwall (electronics), Joe Williamson (bass) -- with Emil Svanängen, Niklas Barnö, Magnus Broo, Emil Strandberg, Mats Äleklint, Per Ake Holmlander, Anna Högberg, Elin Larsson, Christer Bothe'n, Jonas Kulhammar, Sören Runolf, Tomas Hallonsten, Joel Grip, Dan Berglund, Tomas Mera Gartz and Johan Holmegard.

$22.00 NOT IN STOCK

180 gram LP version. Fire! is a Swedish trio comprising Mats Gustafsson (The Thing), Johan Berthling (Tape) and drummer Andreas Werliin (Wildbirds & Peacedrums). Fire! is where they go to stretch their instrumental skills and to play outside their comfort zones, or collaborate with prestigious guests (see their previous Rune Grammofon releases You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago [2009], Unreleased? with Jim O'Rourke (2011), and In the Mouth a Hand with Oren Ambarchi (2012). Fire! Orchestra takes the project to the next level: a sonic behemoth comprising 31 members that should be unmanageable, but turns out to possess the elegance and lucidity of the righteous free-jazz big bands of the past. Charlie Haden's Liberation Orchestra. Carla Bley's Escalator Over the Hill. Centipede. Sun Ra's Space Is the Place. Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath. Freddie Hubbard & Ilhan Mimaroglu's Sing Me a Song of Songmy. All these classic landmarks come to mind as you listen to their monumental Exit!. This album was recorded in January 2012 at the headquarters of Fylkingen, the legendary Stockholm avant-garde music center. But before you go thinking this is an impenetrable free-jazz meltdown, listen again. Exit! follows in these mighty footprints, but it's also an odyssey that takes its own route, with post-rock/Krautrock diversions along the way. There is a way in to Exit!, and the way out is clearly sign-posted. Fire! is all about burning up tradition and blazing new paths and fresh approaches in improvised music -- approaches informed equally by garage punk, electroacoustics and the noise of heavy industry. Throughout both long halves of Exit!, Mariam Wallentin and Sofie Jernberg chant ritualistic lyrics written by Arnold de Boer of Dutch avant-rock institution, The Ex. The text, he explains, is about concrete and non-concrete space, "and about the possibility of improvising in actual space, and the ties, ropes and teachers in many online spaces and programs.  It's up to the various sorts of fire to define the real, irreal, surreal and unreal." Exit! might be a monotonous monolith of repetitive beats, or a tornado-eye of wild solos, but it has a point to make. Members include: Mats Gustafsson (alto/bass saxophones), Johan Berthling (electric bass), Andreas Werliin (drums), Sten Sandell (piano/electronics), Raymond Strid (drums), Mariam Wallentin (voice), Sofia Jernberg (voice), Fredrik Ljungkvist (baritone sax/clarinet), Andreas Söderström (guitar), David Stackenäs (guitar), Joachim Nordwall (electronics), Joe Williamson (bass) -- with Emil Svanängen, Niklas Barnö, Magnus Broo, Emil Strandberg, Mats Äleklint, Per Ake Holmlander, Anna Högberg, Elin Larsson, Christer Bothe'n, Jonas Kulhammar, Sören Runolf, Tomas Hallonsten, Joel Grip, Dan Berglund, Tomas Mera Gartz and Johan Holmegard.