Subtones

With their genre-spanning, song-centered compositions, Subtones became a favorite concert band on the Hungarian jazz-pop scene within just a few years. In order to connect even more directly with their Hungarian audience, their Fonogram Award-winning album Lángolj features exclusively Hungarian-language songs, with lyrics written by the band members themselves, as well as Mátyás Szepesi and Péter Závada.

Subtones, founded in 2019 by trumpeter Gábor Subicz, is one of Hungary's most exciting supergroups. The arrival of singers Vera Jónás and Flóra Kiss steered the band towards vocal forms, so much so that they finished second in the 2022 A Dal finals. "Right from the start, when this lineup was formed, it became clear to me that it wasn't the desire to communicate that drove me. I want to make music with Subtones that I enjoy listening to. People often ask if Subtoness's music is jazz. For me, jazz is a mindset: you have to leave as many possibilities open as possible, you can't give in to playing music out of habit. I love it when I don't know what the others are going to play, and those are my favorite moments when we kick the chair out from under us. Our music is made up of many different elements, and we perform on many different stages, from TV studios to jazz clubs to booming festivals. I feel that our music fits in everywhere. With Hungarian lyrics, we want to get closer to the audience. I feel that in our home environment, English lyrics are a kind of hiding, wearing a mask. In our own mother tongue, the effect is much more instant, the song flies directly into the listener's ear," says Gábor Subicz, leader and mastermind of the Subtones.