Wilco? Tom Waits? Daniel Johnston played by a free jazz combo or maybe an Ed Sheeran-
Stravinsky crossover? «Tired Of Your Smile», the new album by silent neighbor, is just as multifaceted
and sometimes seemingly contradictory as these comparisons suggest. The
unconventional songwriter and his unusual band take trips in every direction: after a theatrical
beginning, beautiful pop and folk melodies emerge just to be torn apart by soundscapes that are
reminiscent of 19th and 20th century compositions, as well as complex harmonies borrowed
from the world of contemporary jazz. «Tired Of Your Smile» is an album filled with musical wit and
lyrical poignancy, bipolar emotional states and unexpected turns, but still is accessible to the
listener. At the heart of it, there’s always the songwriter’s craft: a clear structure, textual
consistency and reduction to the max.
The four musicians of the distinctive quartet each have a background in improvised music and
they are used to following their intuition without compromise. After two years of playing together,
there was therefore no question of how the album was to be recorded. All ten songs were
recorded on just one weekend in September 2019. After a few cuts and exactly one overdub – a
musical saw – the songs were ready to be mixed. Because of this, «Tired Of Your Smile» is a vivid
snapshot filled with spontaneous interactions between the four band members who sculpted
every song into a unique version. On the cello we hear Joachim Flüeler, an experienced
improviser who also works as a composer of film and theatre music. Philipp Hillebrand plays the
clarinet and switches effortlessly between traditional and more modern and open forms of jazz,
while always maintaining his signature style with a strong focus on melodic cogency. On the
drums, the sampler, and many other electronic gadgets that he often uses to catapult the band
sound to unexpected places, is Maxime Paratte. For years, Maxime has been one of Switzerland’s
most sought-after drummers, whether it’s for adding some groove to the next big radio hit or
sensitively shaping the sound of a modern jazz combo. And lastly, there is of course the
songwriter himself. Philipp Saner started his musical career as a slightly depressed Nirvana teen,
who went through an explosive Punk Rock phase and ended up as a jazz nerd who spent day and
night practicing. He then managed to bring back the punk spirit into the world of jazz by the
means of free improvisation. At the same time, he never lost his passion for language and
songwriting, which was the reason he picked up a guitar in the first place. The «silent neighbor»-
project has been around in different forms since 2012. With this new quartet, Philipp has finally
found a setting that allows him to play his songs the way they naturally flow out of him without
forcing himself into a stylistic straitjacket.
Even the name chosen for his songwriting project, silent neighbor, is sourced in two different
worlds: The name is based on the title of a composition by the avant garde guitarist Ben Monder,
and also inspired by Tom Waits’ spoken word song «What’s He Building in There». The artwork for
«Tired Of Your Smile» was contributed by the Zurich based artist and animator Anaïs Voirol. The
characters she created, lost somewhere between toddlers and old age, enter into a dialogue with
the songs on the album and create new associative spaces where imagery and music influence
each other in their perception and meaning.
