Cipher

About

Cipher is the vehicle for bassist and composer Roger Kintopf, and it lives in the gap between strict structure and spontaneous reaction. Kintopf writes with dodecaphonic techniques, then lets the band improvise around and through those written frameworks, so the music never settles into one neat category. The compositions work less like finished statements and more like puzzles to be opened up, which is where the name comes from. The lineup is a quartet: Kintopf on bass, Kirke Karja on piano, Felix Hauptmann on synthesizer and Philip Dornbusch on drums. The group is interested in what happens in the empty spaces between the notated skeleton and what the players do with it, and it asks both musicians and listeners to rethink how they play and hear. Expect music that is curious and exposed rather than showy.