Photo: Nathan West

Nels Cline’s Consentrik Quartet has announced the March 14, 2025, release of its eponymous debut LP from the former and his bandmates: saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, bassist Chris Lightcap, and drummer Tom Rainey. As a preview of the full-length release, the ensemble has delivered their hypnotic, groove-laden instrumental, “The 23.” 

Like the embellishments Cline adds to Wilco’s compositions, the guitarist finds a way to bring fresh texture to the impending Consentrik Quartet album by fusing saxophone with his own axe riffs, which offers a renewed take on improvisational music that honors the John Scofield/Joe Lovano quartets.

Via press release, Cline explained that Consentrik Quartet is “much more of a jazz group, if I dare use that word. I wanted to have the music reflect the players, and have the players come forth so that everybody is able to hear them and enjoy their lucidity and their mastery.

Spelling out the player’s skillsets, Cline praised Rainey, “I’ve got one of the greatest drummers on the planet in the band,” while also pointing out the avant-garde nature of their approach allows space for Tim Berne and Laubrock, his spouse, to move freely and in response to sound and sensation as they see fit. 

Regarding Laubrock’s woodwind instrument, Cline says, “I heard her negotiating these perplexing chord changes in that band, with this amazing combination of great facility but also a kind of intimacy. Honestly, when I listen to her playing on the Consentrik record, I’m consistently blown away. To me, it sounds like it’s her record because of how she shines.”

Paired with news of the LP and its initial single release, Cline and the band shared that they would mark the drop during their appearance at Big Ears in Knoxville, Tenn. The festival is slated to run from March 27-30, 2025. 

Pre-order the LP now. Scroll down to stream “The 23.”