Acclaimed guitarist and composer Phil Robson has announced a new EP, Portrait in Extreme – set to be released on MOBO-nominated Irish jazz drummer David Lyttle's Lyte Records, on March 15.

A multi-award-winning musician, Robson was born in the UK, and was a major presence on the  London jazz scene for many years. After a moving to New York in 2015, he relocated to Co. Roscommon in January 2020.

The self-produced project features original compositions and soundscapes, telling his story of "living in very diverse places and circumstances between 2019 and 2021, as well as aspects of his life, work and loves as a whole."

The music on the EP was compiled by Robson using conventional playing and recording techniques, combined with the use of Ableton Live 11 software – plus drum loops provided by
David Lyttle.

"I've often felt strong polarities in my work, life and the world around me," Robson says. "I suppose the far reaches of this spectrum could be perceived as a little ‘extreme’ (within a context of peacetime, modern existence of course) e.g. relocating from NYC to the countryside of Roscommon, playing with Dave Liebman one week and Barbra Streisand the next, living in the USA in the Obama and then Trump era, etc! From within this perspective, I now want to draw upon and embrace the elements connecting these ‘extremes’, as my inspiration in my playing & compositions.

"The Covid era has given me a great deal of time to imagine how I want my music to sound in the future and to reflect on & interpret my experiences," he continues. "To reference possible polarities again, I love John Zorn's 'Naked City' and Chopin nocturnes, the Curlew mountains and the streets of Hackney, Miles Davis and Black Sabbath! By embracing the fluidity of interconnectedness, I want to focus my outer reaches into something homogeneous & listen to my inner voice without limits.”

Tracklisting:

1. Rumours Abound, Energy Persists
2. Callow freeway
3. So Many Bees
4. Straight Story
5. I’ve Got It
6. New Turf
7. Re-Valley
8. The Masters

Watch Phil Robson and David Lyttle perform 'Septembertime' below: