Strap-on tremolos, hazarai guitar pedals, extreme panning and manipulated vinyl LPs carry Andy Haas’ saxophone to uncharted terrain on this solo record. What are those things? How are they used? Where can listeners spot them in the mix? You won’t find any answers here—but that might be the main message of For the Time, Being. Nothing is certain on this tense, tactile album.
This is Haas’ nineteenth or twentieth release on Resonantmusic. The experimental saxophonist isn’t entirely sure. In the accompanying blurb, however, he’s convinced that only systems with solid low-end response can unleash the full effect of this recording. Low-frequency tracks and effect-altered saxophones swim around in each section. On laptop speakers or pocket-soiled earbuds, they drown.
What does it sound like? Disconcerting and disconnected, but full of discoveries. There’s droning, whirring and revving beneath most of the material. Haas favors the squeakier end of his soprano horn and that gives his voice its complex character by mixing trapped-animal panic with a giggly quality. There’s hurt and humor in these collage-like compositions.
The cry of the blues bubbles up in some passages, most notably on “Protention” and “(im)Material”. Haas plays around with a slide-whistle sound on “Purified in Vain”. Breathy noises and echoing sax on “Wcnsf (Nocturne No. 1)” put the man ahead of the machines.
Many of the tracks reveal a nervous spirit and a nagging sense of remembered pain. But the final piece, “Dehiscence”, rounds things off with a note of optimism. It has a winding-down atmosphere, where spacedust is settling and a state of balance has arrived.
Andy Haas takes the role of a sculptor on this mysterious release. He breathes life into his figures and lets them speak in seldom-heard frequencies that agitate the membrane of his listeners’ eardrums in unfamiliar ways (if they use suitable speakers). For the Time, Being invites its audience to seek connections and contexts. But you won’t find any. Instead, this album offers an experience of disorientation and disturbed assumptions that neatly reflects the current moment in history.
The album is available on CD and as a digital download here .
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