Eye Contact

War Rug is the group's studio debut and follows two live CD-Rs on the Utech label. The group is composed of Matt Heyner (electric and acoustic basses) Matt Lavelle (trumpet, bass clarinet, cuica, flugelhorn) and Ryan Sawyer (drums). Eye Contact might loosely be termed free jazz, but the reality is far more complex, as a typical performance finds them drawing on elements of free improv, latin music, metal, drone, psychedelic to create a very unique sound.

Matt Lavelle is best known as a member of William Parker's Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra. His discography also includes work with Sabir Mateen, Assif Tsahar, Steve Swell, Ras Moshe and Daniel Carter.

Matt Heyner is one of the most in-demand bass players in New York City. He has toured internationally with the legendary improv unit NoNeck Blues Band, and is also well-known for his work in TEST with Daniel Carter, Sabir Mateen and Tom Bruno. His current working groups include those of Sabir Mateen, Ras Moshe and Steve Swell, and he has had previous work with Thurston Moore, Fiery Furnaces, TV On The Radio, Chris Corsano, Paul Flaherty, Okkyung Lee and Samara Lubelski.

Ryan Sawyer was among the founding members of mythic Texas punkers At The Drive-In. He moved to New York, studied with Bobby Previte, played with Tony Malaby and Bruce Eisenbeil and is now a member of indie rockers Tall Firs and improv orchestra Stars Like Fleas. He has also played with Fiery Furnaces and TV On The Radio at various times.

Some praise for their work:

?the real thing: raw, live avant garde jazz recorded in New York City, music that soars and uplifts and ignores all boundaries?
-Florence Wetzel, AllAboutJazz.com

?a staggering release?
-Thurston Hunger, KJFC

?Eye Contact succeeds where others fail by making their less dense, more structured wanderings just as inventive and daring as their obligatory high speed note blizzard?
? Warren Realrider, Foxydigitalis.com

?they have captured that fleeting moment in between different states of mind and body, when certain sounds and not just the notes free you from the routine of regular life that holds us all down?
- Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery