Start

From the very first note, there's no mistaking that this is a Félix Lajkó album. The opening chord is the start of a super-fast sequence of fiddle playing, roaming frenetically and insistently over the instrument. The Hungarian-Serbian violinist is backed by a new five-piece line-up of guitar, cello, tuba, double bass and drums who blend well with Lajkó's skittish musical moods – each of them having particular interactions with Lajkó's violin. Violin and percussion in ‘Edzés’ (Practice) and plucked double bass in ‘Horizont’ (Horizon). Occasionally there are hints of laid-back jazz, but many of the tracks are super-fast, Lajkó's default manner of playing, but ‘Piramis’ (Pyramid) for example starts furiously over drums and low tuba, but becomes slow and spectral in the middle with the violin almost whistling in soft harmonics. It's a compelling journey from action into reflection and back.

The titles of the ten tracks are enigmatic, but not as enigmatic as the cover image of a snail atop an (old fashioned) razor blade with its shell a composite of tuning pegs, piano keys violin scrolls and instrument keys. Perhaps it's waiting for the starting gun to fire, but a snail certainly isn't the first creature that comes to mind when you think of an analogy for Félix Lajkó's fiery playing.