In Carate Urio Orchestra, Joachim Badenhorst brings together seven musicians from his different ongoing projects. The band is named after the village of Carate Urio at Lake Como.
On ‘Sparrow Mountain’ this excellent group of improvisers stretch their sounds beyond the realms of jazz and improvised music into a rapturous whirlwind weaving post-rock, noise, lo- fi, psychedelica, and ambient. Recorded live and released September 27, 2013

Joachim Badenhorst – reeds, voice
Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson- trumpet, electronics, voice
Frantz Loriot – viola
Nico Roig – guitar, voice
Brice Soniano – doublebass, voice
Pascal Niggenkemper – voice
Sean Carpio – drums, guitar, voice

“(…) This debut album consists of small and simple songs linked by enigmatic digital and acoustic soundscapes which binded together form one large suite. Tattered post-rock, noise, ambient and impro- fly by, all steeped in the mysterious lyricism inherent in Badenhorst. The sound palette ranges from intimate and fragile (‘Een schoon hemd’) to abstract (‘Comacina dreaming’) to exuberant and monumental (‘Larvae’ and title track ‘Sparrow Mountain’).”(review by Focus Knack)

“The pan-European ensemble makes music that passes by like solemn hymns, makes itself big with screaming saxophones and jubilant trumpets and then small again, with sweet words. (…) Daringly they mix free improvisation with art pop and folk rock, add minimal ambient and even go for singer-songwriteresque moments.” (review by De Standaard)