Daniel Rossi’s MESS has released their first single “Stylé” in advance of their album “MESS: beginnings” out in early 2027. A first volley from Messi‘s “Freak Jazz” project MESS — “Stylé” is an excellent intro to the Prog / Jazz thesis of freaked out stylings. According to Rossi “Stylé is about finding yourself, you’re personal style, community, and meaning in life.”
Watch the officail video for the first single “Stilé” via the YouTube player below:
The beginnings of “MESS” marks the end of my Rock project, Toothbone and the birth of a different approach to composition, combining the elements of my Rock band and all my other influences (Psych Rock, Prog Rock, Jazz, Fusion, Electronic). My process when writing early MESS music (“Break Me,” “I Can’t Remember Why,” “Potential“) involved writing mostly on guitar and recording full demos before arranging and rehearsing with a full band. For a couple years I developed these songs with a band, then in Portland, OR. After moving to NY in 2020, I formed a working band there. We began by playing older music, as well a experimenting with different song forms and ways of approaching riffs and loops. Once this new band formed we played almost every month in 2023 and a lot in 2024.
I realized the year before my 30th birthday (2024) that all of my compositions had a through line and could live and be interpreted by MESS. I found that when looking at MESS as a direct outlet for my compositions, it gave me the opportunity to edit and reshape that music from rehearsal to rehearsal and show to show. This helped me bring a lot of the fresh music I was writing to the band and encouraged me to write with all of my past and present in mind. Through my band’s willingness and the amount of shows we had lined up, we could approach this new material and found what worked!
This music was written in my brain as a FINAL STATEMENT for MESS. This recording was meant to be an end to a chapter, however, I found MESS’ dedication to learning this incredibly difficult music and what we were able to make more exciting than I imagined. In the word of John Davis our recording/mixing engineer: “You guys are a real band!!”
This is where the new music led us. It is where my 30th year led me. It is the final statement of my 20’s and a birth of the freedom of my future work. MESS’ end became its beginning. When first creating MESS I always wrote that MESS was an ever evolving experiment. It continues to evolve…
This album captures a transitional moment in my life and MESS encapsulates everything about my music and sound.
Lineup:
André Sacalxot / Saxophone (recorded and toured with Fievel is Glauque)
Noam Borns / Piano and Keys
Dave Strawn / Bass (plays and tours with Geordie Greep)
Jan Esbra / Guitar
Nick Saia / Guitar
Daniel Rossi / Drums and Compositions (tours with Haley Heynderickx)
Tracklist:
01. Logan 06:01
02. Break Me 05:34
03. Sugar 04:41
04. Third Eye 05:07
05. Dangerous 04:25
06. Piledriver’s Revenge 02:35
07. Stylé 05:23 video
08. Wide Windows 04:28