The record follows his 2024 release on esteemed Spanish label Fresh Sound, building on its adventurous spirit while exploring new territory. At the heart of the album lies a fascination with the hidden architectures that underlie everything around us – structures that listeners may intuitively feel, even if they can’t precisely define them. Brox explored this idea through compositional methods including twelve-tone rows, set theory, Messiaen’s modes, and other atonal frameworks. Far from limiting his creativity, these pre-set systems became catalysts, expanding his expressive possibilities and shaping the music’s quietly elusive sense of order.

The result is a striking balance between intensity and space: angular, rhythmically dextrous melodies and dense harmonic writing give way to open, exploratory passages rich in texture and soundscape. The quartet’s dynamic interplay fuels powerful solos and tight ensemble moments alike, moving fluidly between high-energy momentum and reflective stillness. The concept extends to a series of atmospheric interludes inspired by dark matter and cosmic background radiation – shifting textures that maintain the album’s central DNA while offering different “faces” of the same idea.

The session itself was as instinctive as the music sounds: recorded in under three hours at Jazzcampus in Basel, with most tracks captured in first takes. Brazilian drummer Paulo Almeida’s pandeiro and vocal chants – particularly in Salutation to Naná – add a personal, spiritual dimension, connecting the music to his ancestral roots.

For Brox, What We Don’t See is ultimately a testament to finding his own way of doing things – and to valuing the different ways of others. It’s music that invites deep listening, revealing fresh details with each return, and a reminder to keep searching: “It matters.” says Brox.