Presenting the unconventional music of a conventional line-up, Caught in My Own Trap features three musicians from three different countries, enchanting contemporary jazz fans with tracks ranging from the most abstract avant-garde musical structures to the most sensual beauty.

The members of the trio were brought together by pianist-composer Kirke Karja: she had met bassist Étienne Renard years earlier in Portugal, and with drummer Ludwig Wandinger they had crossed paths by chance in Berlin. They played their first gig together in Tallinn almost immediately after the formation of the band, but just before the outbreak of the pandemic. In 2021 they played at the Europe Jazz Network conference, and in 2023 they also had the opportunity to perform at the jazzahead! showcase. Their first album, The Wrong Needle, was self-released, on which they joined forces to develop Kirke Karja’s compositions. The backbone of their second album is again Kirke Karja’s new compositions, some of which are influenced by György Ligeti, but the tracks also include improvisations. Although all the songs are fuelled by a huge energy charge, and the strict structures are often hiding extreme emotions, their character is fundamentally different, as the band’s emphasis is not on achieving perfection, but on richly colouring the music and determining its mood. The trio’s world thus ranges from the most abstract avant-garde musical structures to the most sensual beauty.

Kirke Karja, winner of the Estonian Young Jazz Talent Award in 2014, has toured Europe since the 2010s as leader of her own quartet, the Pae Kollektiv, Heliotrope, and Captain Kirke. She has also appeared alongside renowned musicians such as Benoît Delbecq and Pierre Durand. In addition to a wide range of collaborations, she also expresses her keen interest in classical and contemporary music in solo recitals, playing works by 20th- and 21st-century composers, and composes chamber and orchestral pieces. As young as he is, Étienne Renard has quickly become an indispensable member of the Parisian scene, having scored his first major successes with the award-winning Thibault-Gomez Quintet, partnered Paul Jarrett on an album and made his latest release with Benoît Delbecq’s piano trio Triple Fever. Ludwig Wandinger has been an accomplice of Jim Black, Wanja Slavin, Petter Eldh, Lucia Cadotsch, and Ken Vandermark at the drums, but he is also exploring the world of experimental electronics and making his mark as a visual artist and producer.