Alev Lenz - 4 In A Cycle Of Thirds Alev Lenz

“The two records are very much intertwined," writes London-based German-Turkish singer and composer Alev Lenz. "I made 4 in a Cycle of Thirds with Jas in mind, inspired by a mix he created for my last album.” Lenz and Shaw have previously worked together on 2024 collaboration EP Bring Your Friends, as well as album mixes for Lenz' previous two solo records.

Lenz' original album was created from a series of single-note drones, one for each note of the chromatic scale. "When I had this idea, I wanted Jas’ touch involved somehow. I asked him for drones on each note. He sent me 12 and I wrote most of the album listening to these drones. They eventually left the picture and were replaced by new drones I made, new sounds or vocals. But the memory of them lingers in the songs, like an imprint on the retina, an afterimage. So naturally when the record was finished I sent the totality of it to Jas and said: here you go, make your versions!"
4 in a Cycle of Thirds in its original form touches on traditional folk musics, chamber music, contemporary composition, film score, and even interweaves subtle metal inflections, but now presented on double vinyl alongside Jas Shaw's versions as twin records, it has a newly foregrounded quietude, spectral and delicately nuanced. Through reduction, meticulous replacement, and sensitively applied edits, Shaw gently rebalances the light and shadow of the original pieces, coaxing new subtleties and harmonic resonance. "It occupies a space that is in-between the lines," describes Lenz.

Shaw employs a "feedback system" he created for his piano, applied here to devastating effect. "Take the key bed off it and set up a resonators, mics and a mixer. Lots of gaffa tape, lots of precarious propping stuff open. You grub around on the floor and slowly the room fills with harmonics, it’s wonderful."
And, on the relationship between the original record and these new versions, he explains "we could really let the songs drift into a different shape without worrying that we were missing elements that were great."

Alev Lenz is a singer, songwriter, composer, and producer born to a Turkish actor, activist, and artist mother and an Oscar-winning German engineer father. Alev’s creative foundation is as diverse as her musical output. Her solo discography includes three albums - Storytelling Piano Playing Fräulein (2009), Two-Headed Girl (2017), and 3 (2019). She has contributed vocals to scores by Oscar-winning composer Volker Bertelmann, including the US drama Conclave. She has collaborated with artists such as Anoushka Shankar, Jas Shaw (Simian Mobile Disco), Roomful of Teeth, and plenty more.

Songwriter, composer, and producer Jas Shaw is best known for his work with Simian Mobile Disco, whom he co-founded in 2003. He mixed Alev Lenz' 2016 and 2019 albums Two-Headed Girl and 3, and also performs with Selling alongside Gold Panda, and Shaw & Grossfeldt with visual artist Bas Grossfeldt. Shaw and Lenz released the collaboration EP Bring Your Friends in 2024.
This new edition of 4 in a Cycle of Thirds will also be accompanied by a Dolby Atmos mix created by Al Riley at Gatwick Production Studios. "When I heard the Atmos rig I was won over immediately," writes Shaw. "Depth or spacial things that I’d normally have to work hard to do in stereo were often a single fader move on Atmos, and more convincing. Al really got what we were doing and watching him move sound around in three dimensions was like discovering that my bike could fly."
As part of the ongoing promotion of the album Alev now offers in-person playback of the album in full at a central London location, fostering connection, interaction, and conversation.

Alev writes:
"I was wondering and breaking my brain over how to directly reach my audience - the real people! How to introduce them to my music without algorithms, without paying cooperations with whose values I do not align. How to create something communal. Just before my new album 4 in a Cycle of Thirds was released, in early January 2026, I held a listening party for my peers and press, and I set up my studio to look like a living room. I laid out books that inspired the record, exhibited artwork and photography from the recording process, and installed an introduction gallery featuring portraits of all the wonderful people who helped make the record. I ended up loving the space so much that I wanted to open it as a listening session shop selling only one item - my record! And while I was toying with these thoughts I stumbled across the work of Morioko Shoten. This inspiration, and a couple of rejected collaboration proposals, made me wonder: can I do it myself? Or at least for myself. I have not yet used my space for myself a lot. So why not take space fully and proudly?
So. Here’s the shop! For now Tuesdays only, 10am-2pm:
At 73a Kingsland Road, London
At Alev Lenz Studio
My small analogue revolution.
Come hear the record. Chat. Sit."