Tags: aesthetics volumen music

Listening to Julian Lage’s video on his YouTube channel, I came to realize a subtle quality: he and his quartet are in a meditative state. It doesn’t look like they are performing, nor are they working. Thus, listening to them draws you into that restorative state in which you strip off the day’s tension. In contrast, when you participate in a rock and roll song the same way you participate in Lage’s music, you feel the effort, the labour, the work, all of which are consequences of the energy rock and rollers expend. Think Robert Plant in Zeppelin or early Bruce Springsteen.

Rachmaninoff vs. Debussy: relentless passion drives you forward; sublime romance pulls you in. And then there’s Dylan: the way he utters his lyrics is far from gentle, as if he spits out the words, and yet he packs tenderness and love into his songs.

Dissolving Lage vs. striving Springsteen: the music transports us to far-off places, inward and outward.

Is Lage a modern Debussy, then? Probably not, for he can rock out like it’s nobody’s business, it occurs to me just now.

We look forward to seeing the quartet live at the UBC Chan Centre in October 2026: Julian Lage, John Medeski, Jorge Roeder, and Kenny Wollesen.