With the release of Weltentraum last year it seemed clear that Michael Wollny, voted European Jazz Musician of the Year by the prestigious Académie du Jazz in Paris in January this year, was reaching for a less frantic expressionism yet without sacrificing the edginess that made his previous trio [em] so compelling and subversive. With Nachtfahrten, Wollny digs deeper and more profoundly in trying to reach a broader, deeper emotional base for his music. Inspired by the nocturnal realm and things that go bump in the night, what emerges is a distillation of what has gone before; more refined, economical even, his playing seems to reach for meanings and emotions that have hitherto remained unexpressed. What emerges is a profound lyricism – for example, ‘Questions in a World of Blue’ – that somehow attenuates our expectation and when this is disturbed, by dissonance or an unexpected side-slipping filigree, a degree of tension is set up that is sharpened by the context from which it emerges. This is not quite a ‘new Michael Wollny’ or a ‘reinvented Michael Wollny’, but an album that speaks of artistic growth in its concept and maturity of execution. Quite possibly his finest album to date.

Jazzwise spoke to Michael Wollny about the album

The inspiration for the album – Nachtfahrten or Night Journeys – returns to your fascination with the darker side of the human psyche, the paranormal and spirits that emerge on Walpurgis Nacht. Can you tell us a little about what it is that draws you towards this?

Over the years I had to justify my love of horror and night themes many times to many people and it's quite hard. The best quote I've found so far (which I believe is generally very true and very telling about the fascination with the uncanny) comes from Wes Craven: “Horror doesn't create fear, it releases fear”. On more general terms, I think night is the moment when light goes away, making everybody at the same time more reflective and alert. You hear many more things when it's dark around you, so nighttime is the perfect moment for creation.

I think ‘Questions in a World of Blue’ is an inspired opening track, and suggests that musical surprise and tension can be achieved by means other than energy – that you are looking to explore moods beyond Weltentraum.

Exactly. We put it as a first track, because it almost works like a portal. We enter the world of the album through that track, and so reduced and quiet and slow that – at least to my ears – everything changes in those three minutes, and everything sounds different afterwards. Energy seems to be created by the lack of interaction and in a way that track contains the whole concept of the album in a nutshell.

To me this album sounds more radical that Weltentraum.

I totally see what you mean, but to me it feels the same. I tried to stick to very specific aesthetics, after a long period of quite frantic concerts and lots of interaction, hyper-speed communication inside the band; we turned 180 degrees and looked at the other end of the spectrum. Creating energy by taking stuff away and doing less and less. In a funny way the music became more radical and somewhat more seducing at the same time.