When drummer Mike Reed presents the idea to bass clarinetist Jason Stein and guitarist, keyboardist, turntablist Nick Butcher to form a trio, the music on this album is created, but the real touch of genius comes when they invite vocalist Sharon Van Etten to join.
Even if free in nature, the music is close to prog rock, with sweet melodies and harmonies evolving slowly and freely, with Van Etten's soft and crystal clear voice adding a dimension of folk and naive innocence. Yet this dreamworld of light textures is then broken by bouts of illogical instrumental parts, of an uncanny and eery nature, sometimes dissonant, but not always nightmarish, just hard to comprehend, hard to grasp, yet inviting. You have to undergo the sounds, like you have to play the lead role in the weirdest of your dreams, with shifting backdrops and contexts and characters, a victim of your own imagination.
The overall result may be too much prog rock for jazz fans, and too wildly free for rock fans, and too much of this and too much of that, but the blending of boundaries, and the surprising shifts in perspective works incredibly well on this album. All music fans will enjoy this, yet it will require some to be willing to open up.
Listen and download from eMusic.
Buy from Instantjazz.
© stef
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