Quadro Nuevo - Inside the Island (2025)

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Quadro Nuevo - Inside the Island (2025)

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It is a journey inward – not only geographically, but musically and spiritually as well. Inside the Island, the new album by Quadro Nuevo, will be released on October 24, 2025, by GLM Music, distributed by Edel (LP/CD) and Kontor New Media (digital). More than a collection of pieces, it is a musical travelogue, born on the Greek island of Samos. There, where waves, light, and sun shape the landscape, where ancient villages slumber in the hills, and a kafenion remains a meeting place for locals, the four musicians withdrew to create music scented with lemons, wild rosemary, and the cheerful melancholy of the South.

Quadro Nuevo consists of Mulo Francel (tenor saxophone, clarinet, mandolin, whistle), Andreas Hinterseher (accordion, bandoneon, vibrandoneon), Didi Lowka (double bass), and the ensemble’s newest member, guitarist Philipp Schiepek. Together, they embark on a search for the “simple life,” an unhurried, contemplative way of life that heightens awareness of what truly matters. Far from tourist crowds and global politics, they create music that is warm, elemental, and timeless – born from the openness and serenity of the Aegean.

The opening track, Song for my Bazanaki, is a tribute to family bonds and Greek joie de vivre. Mulo Francel dedicates it to his brother-in-law Odysseas, who introduced him to the traditional Zeibekiko dance – a powerful 9/4 rhythm in which life and sorrow intertwine. This blend of tradition and personal experience imbues Inside the Island. The melodies rise with the island’s vastness, telling of lemon trees, salty winds, and the promise of endless afternoons.

Quadro Nuevo’s music is infused with Mediterranean lightness. Tango and French Musette, Aegean myths, Oriental grooves, Brazilian flair and Neapolitan melodies playfully interweave. Yet this time, everything feels even more immediate, more intimate. The musicians retreat to semi-abandoned villages, listen to the voices of the past, and draw inspiration from the silence. Andreas Hinterseher recalls his admiration for the legendary singer Haris Alexíou, whose To Tango Tis Nefelis moved him to compose an own instrumental rendition. Didi Lowka, who lives in the Alpine foothills with his Cameroonian sheep, contributes the miniature Sleepy Sheeps – a whimsical homage to a simple, nature-connected life. With Philipp Schiepek, who contributes three original pieces, the album expands further. His composition And Will Be speaks of vastness, movement and continuous progress. It dialogues with the past while simultaneously looking forward – open, searching, infinite. In these moments, the music opens spaces of becoming, telling stories that are ineffable yet vividly audible.

Inspired by an ancient Greek tradition, the musicians wrote short aphorisms included in the booklet. They reflect on the courage to venture into the heart of the island, on sensing something unspeakable creeping into the songs at night amidst the sea of old stories. They speak of the preciousness of a companion with whom to explore the island’s interior, and of the smile of a nearly deserted village flashing like a ray of sunshine along the shadowed alleys.

Inside the Island is an album that takes its time – for the sound, for the silence, for the reverberation of melodies. It invites the listener not only to walk along the coast, but to venture inland, where life is simple and expansive, elemental, and full of stories. With every note, Quadro Nuevo breathes the spirit of the Aegean, guiding listeners on a poetic journey: into the heart of an island, into the heart of music that can give human hopes and longings a home.