kris defoort quartet 'happy flaws'
Kris Defoort piano, compositions, field recordings
Sam Comerford tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, flutes
Nicolas Thys bass guitar, looper
Lander Gyselinck drums, toys
Kris Defoort has performed at Walter several times already. Last season, for instance, he took part in our Improv & Sketch for Humanity sessions. But he is, of course, also one of Belgium’s most versatile and important composers and musicians. After fifteen intense years filled with opera, music theatre and chamber music, Defoort returns to the purity of the collective creative process.
For this project, provisionally titled Happy Flaws, he expands his trio with Nicolas Thys and Lander Gyselinck with an additional guest: multi-instrumentalist (and former Walter resident) Sam Comerford. His presence considerably broadens the quartet’s sonic palette, opening up new possibilities in terms of colour combinations, rhythmic textures, and harmonic and melodic layers.
The aim: a one-hour suite integrating field recordings, electronics and toys. Happy Flaws thus grows into a combination of individual and collective experiences unfolding through diverse and poetic worlds. Familiar and surprising at the same time. The vulnerability and imperfection evoked by the project’s title refer to a conscious choice for the organic, the human, the unprogrammed. Mistakes are not problems, but opportunities.
The quartet will work on the music at Werkplaats Walter and record the compositions in our new studio. The album will be released at the end of November 2027 on W.E.R.F. records and presented at BOZAR on 10 December 2027.