False Walls
@falsewalls.bsky.social
Music label, based in Faversham, UK. https://www.falsewalls.co.uk
WHAT WAS by Kenny Wheeler Sextet New review at The Squid's Ear: "This is playing from Wheeler's mature period (he was 65 at the time) with lyrically eloquent and technically smooth exploratory phrasing." CD booklet photos: Caroline Forbes
May Spring Last a Lifetime by Tom Challenger & Evan Parker Review at Percorsi Musicali: " ... mostly an open, highly expressive conversation between two curious and fearless improvisers ... and are not shy about being abstract and engaging with silences." Photos by Caroline Forbes
CRACKED GLAZE by Matthew Wright CD / digital performed by: Sofia Jernberg Ensemble Klang Spheric Totemic Lengthy review in Paris-Move -- "A fascinating, adventurous and deeply immersive album ... has the power to transport us somewhere entirely new."
May Spring Last a Lifetime by Tom Challenger & Evan Parker Album launch show next week: CAFE OTO, LONDON 21 JULY " ... stands among the most compelling duo recordings in contemporary improvised music” — Paris-Move Uncut magazine review: 8/10
May Spring Last a Lifetime Tom Challenger & Evan Parker Album launch next week: CAFE OTO, LONDON 21 JULY “this tenor sax duo is a pure marvel” — Orynx Improv and Sounds "stands among the most compelling duo recordings in contemporary improvised music” — Paris-Move Uncut magazine: 8/10
Announced today: The Beating of Wings, 40th anniversary edition by Andrew Poppy CD/digital October 2 Originally released on ZTT Records: “ahead of his time…he’d fit right in with the Max Richters and Nils Frahms of today” (The Album Years podcast).
May Spring Last a Lifetime by Tom Challenger & Evan Parker The album has received an 'indispensable' rating by Paris-Move: "the recording is both an exploration of sound and an extraordinary example of musical listening at its highest level" Album launch show: CAFE OTO, LONDON 21 JULY
CRACKED GLAZE by Matthew Wright CD / digital New review in Electronic Sound magazine: "An absorbing, startling work." @electronicsound.bsky.social
May Spring Last a Lifetime by Tom Challenger & Evan Parker The album has received an 'indispensable' rating from Paris-Move: " ... stands among the most compelling duo recordings in contemporary improvised music." Album launch show: CAFE OTO, LONDON 21 JULY
CRACKED GLAZE by Matthew Wright CD / digital Listening event next week -- Orpheus Instituut (Pyramid Hall / Koetshuis) Korte Meer 20a, 9000 Ghent, Belgium 16 June, 18:00
CRACKED GLAZE by Matthew Wright CD / digital The new album is featured in a 3,500-word essay / interview with Matthew Wright -- by Bill Shoemaker in Point of Departure.
CRACKED GLAZE by Matthew Wright CD/digital featured in The Best Contemporary Classical Music on Bandcamp By Peter Margasak "Composer Matthew Wright’s conceptual rigor on Cracked Glaze runs deep ... a work of elegant design that balances gliding, reflection with exquisitely etched conflict."
The three new False Walls CDs: - Kenny Wheeler Sextet - Matthew Wright, with Sofia Jernberg, Ensemble Klang and Spheric Totemic - Evan Parker & Tom Challenger All 6 panel gatefold packages with booklets and CD sleeves, all designed by David Caines.
CAFE OTO, LONDON: TUESDAY 21 JULY 2026, 7.30PM ALBUM LAUNCH SHOW for TOM CHALLENGER & EVAN PARKER'S "MAY SPRING LAST A LIFETIME" With HANNAH MARSHALL (solo)
CRACKED GLAZE by Matthew Wright CD / digital " ... Matthew Wright’s captivating and structurally ingenious Cracked Glaze, all subtle interventions and carefully-judged excursions ... manages to be both elegant and spontaneous." BBC Music Magazine, 5 stars
WHAT WAS: Kenny Wheeler Sextet CD/digital "an exceptional offering ... Recorded in 1995 but recently released, this session represents the British jazz of the period at a creative high, its personnel reading like a who's who of the period. Essential." -- BBC Music Magazine, 5 stars
Two 5-star reviews in BBC Music Magazine for False Walls' new releases by Kenny Wheeler Sextet and Matt Wright. Very grateful to the magazine and critic Roger Thomas.
ANNOUNCED TODAY: May Spring Last a Lifetime by Tom Challenger & Evan Parker CD / digital The first duo release from improvising tenor saxophonists Tom Challenger and Evan Parker. 6-panel gatefold sleeve, 20 page CD booklet and CD sleeve
OUT TODAY: CRACKED GLAZE by Matthew Wright performed by Sofia Jernberg, Ensemble Klang & Spheric Totemic "The imaginative, elegant performance of this composition ... cements Cracked Glaze's deeply immersive effect." - Percorsi Musicali 6-panel sleeve, 20 page booklet & CD sleeve.
WHAT WAS: Kenny Wheeler Sextet CD/digital "Wheeler’s style remains as refined as it is confident ... beautiful and moving" Jazz Mania "an album that sees the light after 30 years and not before time, Kenny perhaps at the peak of his later and smoother era" Freq Photos: Caroline Forbes
Matthew Wright introduces his new project Cracked Glaze, including a Q&A and an immersive playback of the album, released in May on CD/digital by False Walls @falsewalls.bsky.social Cracked Glaze was performed by vocalist Sofia Jernberg, Ensemble Klang and Wright's Spheric Totemic
WHAT WAS by Kenny Wheeler Sextet CD/digital "It’s all first-class" Richard Williams / The Blue Moment "Captures Wheeler at a creative peak" Jazzwise, 4 stars "An important release from a great master and his colleagues" Salt Peanuts
CRACKED GLAZE by Matthew Wright performed by Sofia Jernberg, Ensemble Klang & Spheric Totemic CD / digital on False Walls Cracked Glaze feature and interview with Matthew Wright on New Music Show, BBC Radio 3, Saturday 2nd May, starts 54:54: search on BBC Sounds
False Walls BANDCAMP FRIDAY: 20% OFF EVERYTHING USE CODE: MAYDAY Boxsets: Andrew Poppy (4 CDs and book) Evan Parker (4 CDs and book) Single CDs: Including new releases by Kenny Wheeler Sextet and Matthew Wright, and the label's back catalogue
CRACKED GLAZE by Matthew Wright performed by Sofia Jernberg, Ensemble Klang & Spheric Totemic CD/digital on False Walls BANDCAMP FRIDAY: 20% OFF USE CODE: MAYDAY The album is being featured, including an interview with Matthew, on Radio 3’s New Music Show tomorrow (Saturday).
OUT NOW: WHAT WAS by Kenny Wheeler Sextet CD / digital on False Walls BANDCAMP FRIDAY: 20% OFF USE CODE: MAYDAY "This previously unreleased recording from 1995 captures Wheeler at a creative peak." Jazzwise review, 4 stars
OUT TODAY: WHAT WAS by Kenny Wheeler Sextet CD / digital The first release of a 1995 studio session. “… as vital and immediate as anything already in the extended canon of Kenny Wheeler.” - Paris-Move kennywheelersextet.bandcamp.com/album/what-was
What Was, by Kenny Wheeler Sextet
7 track album
kennywheelersextet.bandcamp.com
New writing on the ARK blog: Richard Rees-Jones writes about Rook by Shearwater and Simon Tyler writes about Tabula Rasa by Arvo Pärt www.falsewalls.co.uk/ark @jonathanmeiburg.bsky.social @matadorrecords.bsky.social @viennesewaltz.bsky.social @shearwaterband.bsky.social
Listen to Matthew Wright's CRACKED GLAZE on Such Music, Resonance FM www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/such-music-7-march-2026 CD / digital on False Walls
Such Music - 7 March 2026
Hosted by Rihards Endriksons, journalist and artistic director of Latvia's Skaņu Mežs festival, Such Music is devoted to new works of free improvised music, either previously unheard or created specif...
mixcloud.com
WHAT WAS by Kenny Wheeler Sextet CD / digital on False Walls Read the sleeve notes by Nick Smart: www.falsewalls.co.uk/2026/03/nick... 'Song for Someone: The Musical Life of Kenny Wheeler', by Nick Smart and Brian Shaw, is published by Equinox.
False Walls — Nick Smart: sleeve notes for Kenny Wheeler Sextet
falsewalls.co.uk