The Swiss trio divr deliver a powerful live document, captured at Cully Jazz in 2023 and released by We Jazz digitally on 12 December. The trio of Philipp Eden (piano), Raphael Walser (bass) and Jonas Ruther (drums), released their debut album, Is This Water, with We Jazz in 2024 to great acclaim. On the 30-minute new live album, divr show just what they can do best when on stage, building a compelling musical narrative that pulls the listener in deep.

divr reflects on the recording:

This recording documents the early days of divr. For over two years, we played exclusively — and very regularly — in our rehearsal spaces, drinking lots of pu’erh tea as we did so. Those sessions became almost ritualistic: the tea, the sound, the silence between. Time would stretch, blur, and fold into music. After that long and quiet period of playing only for ourselves, we were invited to perform at the Cully Jazz Festival in Switzerland.

Set against an almost unreal backdrop — Lac Léman, the Lavaux vineyards — the village of cully turns into a living stage. During eight days, music spills from every bar, restaurant, former stable, and wine cellar. people come from all over to celebrate life and sound in a euphoric, open atmosphere. In the caveau “Sweet Basil” — then one of the most intimate festival venues (sadly, it no longer exists) — we played three sets for a curious, close, and deeply listening audience. The room held an energy of its own, shaped by time and by the many great musicians who had played there before.

The second set — the one you’re hearing now — felt truly magical. There was a flow and a synchronicity to it that words don’t quite catch. Maybe it was the calm after the first set, maybe the great wine, maybe the gentle tiredness setting in. Whatever it was, it felt perfectly right — as if thought and matter had dissolved into pure sound.

These are the moments we play for. When you are so fully there, nothing else exists but this. We listened to that moment again and again, and we’re happy to share it here with you.

—divr

"Is This Water is nothing less than mesmerizing."
– Bandcamp "Best Of Jazz 2024"

"It's absurd how good Swiss trio divr is at playing this music."
– Downbeat

"Is The Water is an idiosyncratic debut from a leftfield jazz troupe; an ideal signing for the leading Northern European We Jazz label: fast becoming a stamp of authority in that field of music."
– Monolith Cocktail

"Although this minimalist, simultaneously disciplined and loose approach invites comparisons with the equally quixotic zen funk of their compatriot Nik Bärtsch or the ever shifting progressions of The Necks, divr’s music resists trite categorisation."
– The Quietus

"Is This Water, with all its mystery, evidences the arrival of a compelling new piano trio on the 21st century jazz scene."
– Allmusic

"You won’t find a stronger enchantment than Is This Water."
– Bandcamp Daily

"The more I listen, the deeper I go with them, completely engrossed and totally immersed in this stunningly original world we have entered into."
– UK Vibe