"Mellow Melange - what's that?" the magazine PRINZ is asking and answers: "definitely most beautiful!"

But why? What is which is most beautiful? "This voice of Sonja Firker ... absolutely matching the music", PRINZ says. Sonja has a great voice, that is right, but what is she singing? A mixture, a melange. A melange from what?
"A perfect fusion of pop and chamber music, jazz and classic, soul and folk" continues PRINZ. A mixture in which the musical elements melt together and react. Many titles sound like good pop music: strong melodies, catchy hooklines and choruses, wide swinging harmony arcs and modern grooves. Music directly aiming at the listener's heart and emotions. One can listen, forget everything and revel in emotions. You can listen to the music besides. Mellow Melange is never getting on our nerves bit is always radiating a soft and relaxed mood.

But there are more levels: the music by Mellow Melange also is chamber music. Definitely the instrumentals. Here is thematic work to find, polyphone voicing, surprising modulations and a very dense setting structure, which easily makes it possible to play such titles as string quartet or as bigger orchestral settings. And also within the songs one can detect details and hidden beauties, which sometimes reveal to us only after a more often listening: counterpoint hooklines which develop to song lines, second or third voices which have thematical character, polished choir and string quartet settings and much more.

And Mellow Melange is jazz. One proof is the piano playing by Michael Berger. Additionally there is an exciting, energetic friction in Matthias Schinkopf's tenor or soprano saxophone fills and those classic and folk motivated violin duets by Ingo Höricht and singer Sonja Firker, whose terse front voice sometimes builds up a beautiful contrast to the excellent voice of bass man David Jehn. And, last but not least, the percussion player Hilko Schomerus, who is weaving a grooving, rhythmical layer with cajon, conga, bongo and many more percussion instruments on which the melody lines can unfold.



On the album "The Answer" additionally there are guest musicians: rock and blues guitar player Dave Goodman adds complete new colours to the sound of Mellow Melange, refining it with his silvery sounding metal strings, rhythmically "chasing" the band and inspiring with his outstanding solos, sometimes almost "fighting" with brass player Matthias Schinkopf. A wonderful elegic accordion in ALGER LA BLANCHE, a spheric e-bow guitar in the final track as well as the string quartet, accompanying the polyphone, harmonic and rhythmic structures in several titles, lift this melange almost to an orchestral dimension.

The speciality of Mellow Melange are soft pieces with hit character, bitter sweet ballads in a cloudy minor and full of melancholy, tasting like sweet, sinful mocca. On "The Answer" the ensemble also presents more and different moods, some are cheerful, in a high spirit and terrific. Some say there are even titles to dance to! Of course, there are a lot of beautiful and sad ballads like ALGER LA BLANCHE, the moving duet EVERY TIME and the minimalistic
A WINTER'S POET.

Transl. Thomas Christen