Empirical’s Jazz Popup Lounge

Featuring Nathaniel Facey (alto sax), Tom Farmer (double bass), Lewis Wright (vibraphone) and Shaney Forbes (drums), Empirical’s instrumentation has proved the perfect vehicle for the band’s invariably complex compositions and distinctive signature sound. ‘Flirting with nostalgia while living on the edge of experimentation’ (Jazzwise), Empirical’s music is defined by a deep commitment to improvisation and a uniquely collective creative process.

In keeping with their risk-taking approach to music-making, in 2016 the quartet embarked on a daring exercise in audience creation with their ‘Pop-up Jazz Lounge’ residency project, which has seen the band turn disused shops in train stations and shopping malls in London, Berlin, Birmingham, Cheltenham and Bath into fully-fledged jazz clubs, for a week at a time. Since then, the band has played to more than 10,000 appreciative commuters and shoppers, racking up over 150 live sets in the process.

For Empirical, this kind of gigging marathon is a much-relished opportunity to develop new musical ideas during live performance such as their two-part EP set entitled Indifference Culture and Distraction Tactics.

With their characteristic interplay between composed and improvised parts, Empirical once again demonstrate their masterful ability to inhabit contrasting emotional states in their playing.

A new full-length album is planned for release in 2023.