Almost all of the ten compositions on "Universe In A Shoebox" are by Kiki Manders and based on questions about our concept of time and space. And also about our different perceptions of reality: "If the universe would fit in a shoebox, how incredibly small would we be humans then?" Manders wonders, and with absolute certainty finds the perfect balance between a melodic poetic world and a flow of abstractness.

Kiki Manders is a finalist of the Voicingers International Singers Competition and semi-finalist of the Young Jazz Singers Vocal Competition in Brussels. With her "irrepressible style", she is a sought-after musician both as a bandleader and as a sideman. She gave her voice to the Amsterdam saxophonist Maarten Ornsteins' avant-garde funk band DASH! and appeared with this band throughout Europe, in the music theater production "Spica", the multidisciplinary theater performance "Brilliant Limbs" and toured the band through China.

Manders played and / or worked with the Metropole Orchestra, Jim Black, Maarten Ornstein, Oene van Geel, Vince Mendosa, Yuriy Yaremchuk, Jeffrey Bruinsma, Bodek Janke, Phil Donkin and others. She has appeared at world-famous venues and festivals such as The Bimhuis, Muziekgebouw aan het IJ, Paradiso, North Sea Jazz Festival and the Concert Hall Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the Underground in Germany, the Sziget Festival in Hungary, the Brussels Jazz Club in Belgium, the Jazzclub Jazz Dock in the Czech Republic, Jazz Club Dzyga in Ukraine, the Jazz Gallery in Canada and the Nanjijng Jazz Festival and the Chengdou Jazz Festival in China.

Tracklist:

01. On Behalf of Love
02. I Miss You
03. Universe in a Shoebox
04. Echo
05. What We Don't Know
06. Mins Dörf Te Laeve
07. Oceanmind
08. Kala
09. Der Mond ist aufgegangen
10. Seeker