What a gamechanger he can be
The Guardian on Ant Law
Same Moon in the Same World is an ambitious new collaboration between British musicians Alex Hitchcock (saxophone) and Ant Law (guitar). Recorded in 2020 and 2021 across multiple continents – bridging the gap between London and Tel-Aviv, and Amsterdam and New York – the album brings together a stellar cast of guest musicians performing new compositions: vibraphonist Joel Ross, bassists Linda May Han Oh, Ben Williams and Jasper Høiby, and drummers Jeff Ballard, Kendrick Scott, Sun-Mi Hong and Eric Harland.
The album takes its name from a line in Haruki Murakami’s 1999 novel Sputnik Sweetheart:
‘We're both looking at the same moon, in the same world. We're connected to reality by the same line. All I have to do is quietly draw it towards me.’
Inspiring the album is the idea that whilst we may be in separate places geographically, we have shared truths: musical language, human experience, emotions. From our unique vantage points, we are all staring at the same moon. The common experience of the pandemic has emphasised the importance of human connection, and it is in this spirit that the music was composed and recorded. The artists on this album were brought together by the very conditions that were keeping people apart.
A major statement representing Hitchcock and Law’s most expansive and fully-realised work to date, Same Moon in the Same World documents genuine creativity and connection in a time of unprecedented restriction and atomisation. Acclaimed as composers as well as instrumentalists, sharing multiple awards, an Ivor Novello nomination and seven albums as leaders between them, Hitchcock and Law have created a startlingly vivid and mature soundworld, brought to life by a carefully-curated selection of the world’s most distinctive and virtuosic improvisors.
An incredible saxophonist, with something very unique and original to say
Walter Smith III on Alex Hitchcock
Ant Law // guitar
Alex Hitchcock // saxophone
Jasper Høiby // bass
Sun-mi Hong // drums