Vega Trails - Tremors in the Static

Vega Trails is a new project from double-bassist and composer Milo Fitzpatrick, a founder member of Portico Quartet and features saxophonist Jordan Smart (Mammal Hands) in a richly powerful duo bringing together two powerfully charismatic musicians. The project which takes its name from Carl Sagan's science fiction novel 'Contact' (a book about signals of new life detected from the Vega system) and was born out of a desire to bring the elements of bass and melody to the foreground in their rawest form.

Tremors in the Static was composed during Lockdown as Fitzpatrick immersed himself in music that had space and sparseness such as Swedish fiddle music and Indian Classical music. Jan Johansson’s legendary ‘Jazz på Svenska’ (jazz versions of Swedish folk songs) was another influence, as was a collection of ancient lullabies by Spanish soprano singer Montserrat Figueras and Charlie Haden's duets albums. Operating as a duo, Vega Trails grants the musicians space to breathe and be heard and for the listener to witness the intimacy and depth of a conversation between two voices, bass and melody. Together their beautiful winding stories create something soulful and new.