Let's start with the facts: BELOFOUR are four accordionists, Paul Schuberth (Pigini), Nikola Zaric (Victoria), Stefan Heckel (Pigini) and Stefan Sterzinger (Guerrini). Emerged in Vienna in 2015 as a, if you'll pardon the expression, "supergroup" of four musicians who were and continue to be much and distinguished in artistic activity until then and since then. In and between the vastness of what can be played and explored with an accordion, an open mind and intellect.

Try the search engine of your confidence and the results are as impressive as they are numerous. The stylistic range of what can be found there naturally knows jazz, classical, (imaginary) folk/folk music - from the Balkans to the mountains. From a nimble means of transport of good choice beckons a world music/world music that no longer offends because it is so woolly as a term. All this was and is in BELOFOUR, but not only and not as the participants had already played under their own name and in other constellations. BELOFOUR dedicate themselves, on the instruments of their choice (to be found in brackets) to the pleasure and possibilities of individual and collective improvisation. The precarious exercise to record, to hold on to an in principle so freely conceived idea-music, succeeds on the new sound carrier "suiten suite" with and in amazingly valid versions of 8 "framework compositions" (Pollak/skug magazine) BELOFOURs.

There the more than 5 minutes of album opener "schubbsi" pass immediately like in the proverbial flight, lifts "greecis" with the stylized laughter of the musicians (the voices of the musicians come on "suiten suite" with their instruments to the use), answers so elegantly the question about the humor content of this music: Yes!, to the Schenkelklopfen however please inconspicuously a few dozen houses further go! In order to then (among other things) have fun with the vocalized language, which makes you think of the utopian content of Esperanto or of how much something can tell you that you don't actually understand ("rompoeck" can do something similar), which concrete moments the supposedly absurd always gives you. Join in, listener, listener, reach for the air accordion!

"perle au four" is a really beautiful song, without having to be a song, music and lyrics contextualize themselves as a not only harmonic objection/contradiction pair, which always prefers the wild dance to the bland standard - and as I said, it's beautiful too!

So "suiten suite" surprises and entertains up to the concluding "gimme that cue" (a supposed lightweight) again and again quite excellently, thereby poses one or the other question and demand (finally open up again!) to one's own listening habits and expectations.

If BELOFOUR is about drawing from the moment, playing with the moment - and games can be quite "serious" - , wringing duration from the moment, this has not at all paradoxically succeeded masterfully on and with "suiten suite". Because BELOFOUR - the blessing of the recording - lose nothing of freshness and surprise in repeated listening. And that suits us hopefully fine!