Distant Birds | Vol. 01 & Vol. 02 | May 15, 2026
Best known for their work in celebrated Australian jazz outfits The Necks and Boy & Bear, keyboardist Chris Abrahams and bassist Dave Symes join forces on Distant Birds, Vol. 01 & 02, a hypnotic new collaboration that blends psychedelic soul grooves, extended improvisation and deep rhythmic interplay.
Set for release on May 15th, 2026 via Earshift Music, the project brings together musicians from very different corners of the Australian music landscape to explore a shared love of groove, texture and spontaneous creation.
Drawing on 1970s Afrobeat, soul and dub-reggae influences, Distant Birds moves through moody soundscapes of pulsing bass lines, swirling Moog synths, Fender Rhodes and Hammond organ. Layered horn lines from trumpeter Ellen Kirkwood and baritone saxophonist Matt Ottignon weave through the music, doubling and extending Abrahams’ keyboard improvisations.
Recorded live in single takes, the sessions capture the fluid energy of the band in motion. Long-form pieces develop gradually, built on hypnotic grooves, evolving textures and rhythmic interplay designed as much for immersive listening as for the dancefloor.
Abrahams brings the exploratory sensibility that has defined his work with the acclaimed trio The Necks, shaping expansive keyboard textures that move between minimalism, ambience and melodic tension.
Symes – best known as a longtime member of the ARIA-winning band Boy & Bear – brings a groove-driven approach informed by decades working across pop, soul, jazz and experimental music. His musical direction was strongly shaped by mentorship from the late Jackie Orszaczky, whose influence continues to inform his collaborative, exploratory style.
At the rhythmic core of the project is drummer Evan Mannell, whose fluid playing anchors the music’s open structures while allowing the improvisations to breathe. Together, the ensemble creates a sound world where repetition becomes propulsion and improvisation unfolds through collective momentum.
Across Distant Birds, Vol. 01 & 02, groove and atmosphere move hand in hand – a collaboration shaped by instinct, listening and the shared language of improvisation.
Line up
Chris Abrahams | Keyboards
Dave Symes | Bass Evan Manell | Drums
Ellen Kirkwood | Trumpet
Matt Ottignon | Baritone Saxophone
Track Listing
Drill
Sea Grass
Spirit Level
Driver
PR Quotes
Jazz Journal (UK)
“What results is a deeply organic, genre-defying sonic journey of syncopated hooks and rhythmic interplay designed as much for the dance floor as for immersive, headphone listening.”
All About Jazz (USA)
“Hooks are plentiful, subtly threaded into the fabric of each track, as the album captures the band’s inventive grooves and fluid energy in full flight”
Backseat Mafia (UK)
“Distant Birds dive even deeper into the groove and find new complexities”
Jazz in Family (IT)
“an ambitious work, which unites different musical traditions in a coherent and personal language”
Esensja (PL)
“Chris and Dave know how to capture the listener’s attention with even the slightest touches or variations, and how to use an ambient-krautrock approach to song construction to make the listener want to climb with the band to the very top”
FREQ (UK)
“It must be amazing live; but for now immerse yourself in this and lose yourself for a blissful hour or so.”
Blue in Green (UK)
“Distant Birds project is one that ultimately succeeds in the light of its human connection, artist interplay and sublime textures“
JazzHalo (BE)
“The album unfolds as a continuous journey, moving effortlessly between space-rock atmospheres, Afrobeat grooves, ambient textures and jazz improvisation.”
Jazzthetik (DE)
“Despite containing only four tracks, the Australian group Distant Birds sustain the tension on their debut album from the very first note to the last”
Songlines (UK)
“A meditative sonic pleasure”
Jazzda (PL)
“Every sound is like a blink, like a breath, like another morning seemingly identical, yet something within it has stirred. And, needless to say, it’s gangster-melodic”
Musik an sich (DE)
“I can only reiterate my praise for this absolutely hypnotic music, which at times also possesses an ethereal, meditative quality”
JazzPress Magazine (PL)
“Its hypnotic structures slowly redirect the listener’s thoughts and emotions, revealing new shades with each return”
UK Vibe (UK)
“a place where improvisation answers to architecture rather than ego”
Maxazine (NL)
“Almost without noticing, you are drawn into the music in search of those subtle accents“
Cuttings
