Since 2013, Arthur Possing has been playing with the quartet that bears his name. His first album "Fours Years", released in 2018 on the Belgian label Hypnote Records, received both public and critical acclaim. The young musician and composer has now embarked on another adventure, releasing his second album.

Can you explain the title of your new album, "Natural Flow"?

Arthur Possing: This title has a double explanation. After the first album, you always wonder what to do next. But writing this second album came quite naturally, without any difficulty, in a 'natural flow', a form of continuity, while being marked by some changes, because I was also influenced by new knowledge acquired during my studies in Brussels.

The other meaning of this title is more literal, because several titles have subjects related to nature: 'Walk around Etangs', 'Golden Fields', 'Flow'. However, it's not a concept album about nature or the environment. Still, I liked working around this theme in these new compositions. As musicians, we are often on the move, on the road or in airports. Being in nature gives us a kind of calm and a peace of mind which is pleasant to convey through music.

You recorded this album in the UK, at Real World Studios. Why this choice?

It's a studio with a very good reputation. It was founded by Peter Gabriel in the late 1980s and now has some of the best equipment available on the market. When the question of which studio to choose came up, I spoke with several sound engineers and this studio was especially recommended to me. It's not really more expensive than other studios we can rent here in the area and the support is really great. It was a great experience for us. It's been a great time travelling together in a van, taking the ferry and living together with our music as the main focus. It's a different experience to recording in a cellar in Luxembourg and coming home for dinner with your family.

There is a guest on your album: the trumpet player Thomas Mayade. Why did you invite him?

On some of our tracks, we felt that something was missing. So we thought about adding a trumpet. I met Thomas Mayade in Brussels, where he also teaches. I asked him to join us for this album and he accepted. His presence really brings something extra, a nice extra energy, another tone.

Although you say that you wrote this second album in the continuity of the first one, it differs from it by more complex, more researched writing. Is this an intentional approach?

Indeed, the compositions for this second album are more sophisticated. However, my music is still accessible in terms of melody, it is easy to access without being 'cheap'. It's music that can be sung again, where the melody has an important place, even if, in the background, the research is more complex. But it is not complicated music. It remains above all a music of feelings, of sensations, spontaneous, and without calculations or long reflections.

"Natural Flow", will be released on 27 August. There will be a l on 24 September at Opderschmelz in Dudelange.

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.