After two decades of defying genre boundaries, Amsterdam-based sextet Spinifex celebrates its 20th anniversary with an audacious twist. Their upcoming album, Maxximus, out November 14, 2025 via Trytone Records, expands the group to a nine-piece ensemble while stripping away some of the electric ferocity that has defined its sound. The result: a daring acoustic reinvention that both honors and upends the band’s fiery legacy.
Spinifex — saxophonist and artistic director Tobias Klein, trumpeter Bart Maris, saxophonist John Dikeman, guitarist Jasper Stadhouders, bassist Gonçalo Almeida, and drummer Philipp Moser — has long been a force in European improvised music. Over the years, critics have praised the band’s ability to fuse “mathematical structures, punk aggression, [and] free jazz fire” (All About Jazz) and to “push boundaries, crafting a compelling combination of meticulous complexity and primal energy” (Jazz Views).
But with Maxximus, Spinifex opens new sonic territory. To mark the milestone, they invited three guests — vibraphonist Evi Filippou, cellist Elisabeth Coudoux, and violist Jessica Pavone — each adding depth and texture to the band’s already volatile chemistry. At the same time, the core players swapped their amplified weapons for acoustic ones: Maris adds piccolo trumpet, Klein takes up bass clarinet, Dikeman delves into bass saxophone, Stadhouders trades electric for acoustic guitar, Almeida switches to double bass, and Moser extends his kit with a spectrum of percussion.
“We wanted to approach this project with a different concept of our sound,” Klein explains. “Opening more space to acoustic rather than amplified sound would allow us to use colors we’ve explored individually, but not within Spinifex.”
The shift is felt immediately. The album opens with “Smitten,” an unexpected Spinifex ballad that unfolds with tense beauty before erupting into rhythmic chaos — a kind of musical palindrome. Klein’s compositions “Sack & Ash” and “Phoenix” harness the group’s trademark propulsion but temper it with intricate layers and open improvisational space. Coudoux contributes “Springend,” a piece that challenges the ensemble to rethink its habits and roles, while Maris’ “Annie Golden” pays homage to the punk singer-turned-actress with a build from hushed textures to raucous climax. The closing track, Almeida’s “The Privilege of Playing the Wrong Notes,” serves as a playful manifesto for both the band and avant-garde jazz itself.
As Klein puts it, “I normally see Spinifex as a compact ball that rolls with definite momentum. With Maxximus we fan out a bit. I really enjoyed going back and forth between the rolling and the fanning out.”
After 20 years of relentless experimentation, Maxximus shows Spinifex not settling down but expanding — finding intensity in restraint, power in quiet, and endless invention in sound itself.
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