Lean Left throws together two explosive duos: the pile-driving guitarists of The Ex and the free-jazz collision course of Chicago saxophonist Ken Vandermark and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. Together they make up an apocalyptic quartet, an elemental force featuring international avant-gardists zoning in, scrambling together rock, jazz, noise and blistering free improv to generate a highly-charged onstage assault.

The four members take their sounds and bodies to the limit, often stepping out of the wilderness into glorious passages and hypnotic rhythms. They can create a cacophonous racket but always stay sharp and ready to turn a new corner. Lean Left is extroverted, energetic, challenging and provocative: where rhythm, noise, melody and harmony coalesce. Or as English comedian Stewart Lee stated about the band: ‘Jazz theorizing be damned, it’s like being eighteen again.’

Ken Vandermark tenor sax/baritone sax/B-clarinet, Terrie Ex guitar, Andy Moor guitar, Paal Nilssen-Love drums