Lean Left throws together two explosive duos - the sax/drums collision course of Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love with the pile-driving guitarists from The Ex - to make up a positively apocalyptic quartet: an elemental musical force featuring Grade A international players zoning in and scrambling together rock, jazz, noise and blistering free improv into a highly-charged onstage assault, each member taking their sounds and bodies to the edge and often snapping out of the wilds and into glorious passages of regular rhythm. The foursome crashes along sometimes creating a cacophonous racket but always musical and always ready to change direction or turn a new corner. The music of Lean Left is extroverted, energetic, powerful and inclusive but also confrontational and provocative: where rhythm, noise, melody and harmony melt together in perfect union. Or as Stewart Lee stated about the band, "jazz theorizing be damned, its like being 18 again."

"I Forgot To Breathe" (Trost) is the first studio album in Lean Left's eight year career, and it channels the ferocity of their live performances with a sonic clarity yet to be heard on any of their recordings. Featuring a half dozen improvised pieces, the material charts an adventure in sound few have taken but all can relish.

“Lean Left are a lethal combination of radical commitment, sonic intensity and breathtaking fluency from four musicians who, between them, have rarely strayed from the outermost borders of jazz and punk... The density, clarity and balance maintained throughout the two sets was a breathtaking reminder that this stormy, industrial territory is where many of the most pressing questions are asked of the structure and content of jazz today.” – Geoff Winston, LondonJazz

“If there was any likelihood you might forget you'd spent the evening at a gig by veteran Dutch noise-guitarists the Ex Guitars and free-jazz improvisers Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love, the humming in your ears for the rest of the night keeps you posted. Chicago saxophonist and clarinetist Vandermark and Norwegian drummer Nilssen-Love periodically explore this full-on collision with the fearless electric-guitar duo under the name Lean Left, and at volume levels that practically dismantle the furniture.” – The Guardian

- Terrie Ex / left guitar
- Ken Vandermark / tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, B clarinet
- Paal Nilssen Love / Drums
- Andy Moor / right guitar