With their fourth album, the Austrian jazz piano trio Hour of the Owl (formerly Owls) explores the forest as a space of poetic tension – between light and shadow, stillness and transformation. For centuries, the forest has served as a source of artistic and philosophical inspiration, embodying ideas of idyll, mystery and the unknown. „As though the sky had silently kissed the earth“ takes up this long tradition, drawing its title and spirit from a line by Joseph von Eichendorff and evoking a world where nature, emotion and mystery quietly intertwine.

Following their critically acclaimed releases Light Works (Col Legno, 2024), Wendolins Monocle and Crumbling Light, Hour of the Owl continues its exploration of sound as narrative and nature as metaphor. The trio remains committed to a cinematic, genre-crossing sound that brings together European jazz traditions, classical refinement, electronic textures and subtle traces of pop – all shaped by a deep attention to sound and atmosphere.

Improvised compositions, atmospheric textures and lyrical phrasing form the core of this new body of work, resonating with the depth and ambiguity of the forest. The album’s pieces draw inspiration from artistic figures who themselves found resonance in the forest, including Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy and John Atkinson Grimshaw. Each track becomes a threshold: a space where inner and outer landscapes meet, where intuition guides form, and where sound reflects the unspoken.

International media including Jazzmagazine France (“A Revelation”), Mainly Piano (USA; “A glorious musical journey”), ORF Ö1 (AUT), Jazzwise (UK), Jazzpodium (Germany), Jazzenzo (Netherlands) and Valon Kuvia (Finland) have praised the trio’s unmistakable aesthetic, which combines lyrical clarity with sonic experimentation. Their performances have brought them to renowned venues and festivals including the Vienna Konzerthaus, Porgy & Bess, Volkstheater Vienna, Montforter Zwischentöne, Int. Jazz Piano Festival Kalisz (PL), Stadttheater Lindau (GER) and Musiktheater Linz.

With their distinctive blend of jazz improvisation, electroacoustic detail and lyrical form, Hour of the Owl invites listeners into a meditative, immersive listening experience – a sonic forest where clarity fades into color, and silence speaks.