The Brisbane-based trio East of West returns with Pastorale, a luminous and deeply textured collaboration that expands their signature Balkan-jazz fusion with the expressive touch of pianist and contemporary classical composer Romano Crivici. The result is a contemplative, richly cinematic record that is rooted in traditional forms while reveling in improvisational freedom.
Led by Bosnian-born double bassist and composer Goran Gajić, East of West also features oud virtuoso Philip Griffin and percussionist Malindi Morris.
Over the past seven years, the trio has built a musical rapport that’s as intuitive as it is intricate. Their previous album Moving Home (2023) earned ARIA and Australian Folk Music Award nominations, and Pastorale pushes their artistry even further.
Crivici’s addition on piano doesn’t disrupt the balance. Instead, they make room for each other, weaving together melodic phrases and rhythmic motifs in subtle interplay.
Pastorale owes its origins to an unlikely source: a battered upright piano salvaged from a suburban Brisbane yard during the wet season.
That piano’s story, and its temporary resurrection, became the compositional seed for the album, later transposed onto the grand keys of a Steinway Model D in an art nouveau studio on Brisbane’s Bayside.
This layered origin story is reflected in the music itself: complex but never overwrought, playful but never aimless.
Tracks unfold like conversations between old friends. Gajić’s compositions favor slow builds with gentle melodies that evolve into uptempo, Balkan-inflected grooves, often collapsing back into moments of breath-catching stillness.
Griffin’s oud dances delicately through these shifting terrains, while Morris’s percussion adds precision and pulse. Crivici’s piano, meanwhile, opens up the soundscape, adding a touch of romanticism and dramatic arc.
Recorded live by Melbourne sound engineer Siiri Metsar, who also captured East of West’s first two albums, the record possesses a clarity and warmth that honors each instrument’s voice.
The standout track “Quiet Days in West End,” born from the spinet piano’s haunting timbre and the domestic vistas of backyard mango trees and laundry lines, encapsulates the record’s ethos: quiet observation, cross-cultural dialogue, and artistic reverence for the everyday.
Pastorale is a living, breathing document of collaboration, history, and place. East of West continues to chart its singular path, bridging genres and continents in pursuit of something timeless and true.
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