Nathan Daems (saxophone, Nyabinghi drum) | Bart Vervaeck (el. guitar) | Lieven Van Pée (el . bass) | Falk Schrauwen (drums)

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Jazzrock for psych heads, global sounds for jazz minds, or the steaming soundtrack to a midnight desert rave? For sure, Echoes of Zoo fuse influences from all over the musical earth into countless electrifying grooves.

Follow up to their acclaimed debut record 'BREAKOUT' (2021), the quartet's new album 'Speech of Species', released May 12^th 2023 via W.E.R.F. Records, is deepening their already eclectic sound further once again.

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Still packed with a lot of sonic energy and a fair amount of punk- and dub flavours, Echoes of Zoo are this time blending ina big bunch of (Middle) Eastern and Balkan sounds, microtonal guitars, animal communication transformed into melodies and a host of new rhythmic experiments based on Brazilian and West African grooves.

While ‘BREAKOUT’ was an interesting musical interpretation of the confrontation between human sand animals and breathed the vibes of cities and clash of cultures, Nathan Daems (saxophonist, composer and bandleader) was this time inspired by the communication of animals amongst each other. That's why he named this new record 'Speech of Species'.

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"Language and music sometimes coincide completely. Changes of melody or rhythm are generally used by many animal species to make a specific statement, and this is what Echoes of Zoo also tries to do through their compositions. But music can also be purely instrumental, with no fixed meaning. That's another parallel with the animal world: surprisingly, it appears that many songbirds sing much more frequently than is necessary to communicate. That would indicate that they enjoy making melodies."

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Echoes of Zoo was formed in 2018 by Nathan Daems. After releasing a first self-produced EP ‘First Provocations’ in January 2019, the group has quickly been invited to some key Benelux venues and festivals: Roadburn (NL), Ancienne Belgique (BE), Thrill Festival (UK), Ferro Bar Porto (PT), Brussels Jazz Festival / Flagey (BE), BOZAR (BE), Jazz Brugge Festival (BE), Willem Twee (NL), Rockerill (BE), Colour Meeting (CZ), Beursschouwburg (BE), C-Mine (BE), Brosella Festival (BE), Leuven Jazz Festival (BE), AMOK  / KAAP (BE), Wilde Westen (BE), De Grote Post (BE), Tournai Jazz Festival (BE), Recyclart (BE), …

The band has been touring in Brazil in 2024, including a gig at the acclaimed Rec-Beat Festival, and has as well been selected to play some leading international showcase festivals: WOMEX (Porto) and MENT (Ljubljana).