Netherjazz: Raw Fish (NL/DK)

The second trio of Thursday’s Dutch evening, Raw Fish, originally was just a two-person act consisting of a Danish and an Italian musician who shared an apartment in Amsterdam for a while.

Following their first album titled Crudo (2024), guitarist Teis Semey (b. 1993) and drummer Giovanni Iacovella (b. 1996) invited Marta Arpini (b. 1994), an Italian indie pop singer and songwriter living in Amsterdam, to join them on two pieces. Almost as an omen, one of the songs in which she sings the vocals on Crudo was named It Was Nice To Get To Know You.

Apparently, the names Raw Fish and Crudo – which means raw in Italian – are not to be taken just as jokes. The ensemble’s ‘electroacoustic indie avantgarde jazz’ is at least somewhat raw, with a punkish attitude. And it asks a lot more questions than it answers. Indeed: it’s no coincidence that the final piece on Raw Fish’s début album is titled Do Sardines Come From Sardinia?