Modes of Breath is the debut album by Finnish bass clarinetist Jaakko Arola and German violinist-vocalist Magdalena Lorenz. Jaakko and Magdalena crossed paths in 2025 while both residing in Reykjavík. Throughout the Autumn of 2025 they met occasionally to improvise together. Nothing was recorded and the actual musical material was never discussed or prepared in advance. These sessions were simply more about settling into the same frequency and shared space, a form of grounding and breathing.

At the end of the year, shortly before they each relocated to different countries, Jaakko and Magdalena got together once more to record an album. The album features six fully improvised tracks shaped by the previous encounters and the present moment, six ways of breathing together and through the instruments.

Jaakko Arola is a Helsinki-based musician, improviser, composer and instrument-maker. Following years of intensive study of traditional woodwind instruments, Arola has focused his practice on expanding the acoustic timbral possibilities of the bass clarinet. Through multiphonics and extended techniques, Arola explores the bass clarinet as a polyphonic instrument, treating it not just as a melodic instrument but as a source of multiple, simultaneous layers of sound. By combining alternative playing techniques and handcrafted mouthpieces, he draws out airy and fragile timbres that transform and obscure the clarinet’s original sonic identity.

Jaakko Arola website 

Magdalena Lorenz is a classical and experimental violinist and vocalist based somewhere in Berlin/Basel/Reykjavik. Her education entails a BA of Classical Violin in Cologne, the Tonali Stage Academy, some Anthropology in Berlin and a Master of Experimental Music in Iceland. Magdalena is practitioner of the Art of Hosting and founding member of the Werkstatt des Wandels. Her current musical Solo project and alter Ego is called magdalunja – the one who dances with the contaminated.

Magdalena Lorenz website

Credits