Jaga Jazzist will release their new album, Pyramid, via Brainfeeder.

Pyramid is the Norwegian eight-piece’s first outing on Flying Lotus’ label and their first album since 2015’s Starfire, their eighth in total.

In contrast to Starfire, the band, led by Lars Horntveth, took a direct approach. Whereas Starfire saw them take the idea of a traditional studio record to extremity, with different members dipping in and out of the booth to write, record, and experiment over two years, the process behind Pyramid was almost the polar opposite in that it took just two weeks.

For the album, all eight members retreated to a secluded woodland studio in neighbouring Sweden, and bunkered into the studio for 12-hour days.

“The most important thing is that we didn’t want to over-analyze every musical idea,” says co-founder and drummer Martin Horntveth. “We wanted to follow the first and original idea and keep the freshness.”

Pyramid is also Jaga Jazzist’s first self-produced album—most of their records being produced by close collaborator Jørgen Træen—and it meant a change in the way they operate because they didn’t have an independent figure to make a call on whether something was a good idea. The result is an album that feels “more collaborative” than ever, we’re told.

The end result is suitably cosmic to match the group’s new label home, and it nods to forebears spanning from ’80s jazz band Out To Lunch and Norwegian synth guru Ståle Storløkken, to contemporaries Tame Impala, Todd Terje, and Jon Hopkins.

Tracklisting

01. Tomita
02. Spiral Era
03. The Shrine
04. Apex

Pyramid LP is out on April 24 via Brainfeeder. Meanwhile, you can stream “Spiral Era” in full below, and pre-order the album here.