Quartet "Atmospheres" consists of Tigran Hamasyan (piano), Arve Henriksen (trumpet), Eivind Aarset (guitar) and Jan Bang (electronics), and debuted with an extensive double album on the prestigious ECM label last year. ECM boss and producer Manfred Eicher has described the album as one of the best he has ever recorded. Not a bad acknowledgement from the man who has more than 2,000 record productions with artists such as Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett and many other under his label. 

The three Norwegians Henriksen, Aarset and Band have played together in different groups before, but new sounds and soundscapes have been taking shape with Hamasyan at the front. Here are four musicians at their creative peak, either freely reflective of Armenian themes or instinctive interactions which form the atmospheric sound. Most of the material is improvised, but the mood of the project is set by the compositions of the Armenian priest, musicologist, folk music collector, singer and conductor Komitas (1869 - 1935) which runs like a thread through the debut album. 

Reviewer Terje Mosnes described the project as "Captivating, original and indescribably beautiful".  A more accurate description would be difficult to find.