The Portugese trio The Attic was founded a few years ago - tenor
sax player Rodrigo Amado, double bass player Gonçalo Almeida, and drummer
Marco Franco. This trio recorded its self-titled, live debut at SMUP,
Lisbon, in December 2015 (No Business, 2017). The sophomore album of The
Attic was recorded again live at the Summer Bummer Festival, Antwerp, Belgium
in August 2018, and it also was the first performance of Amado and Almeida
with Dutch drummer Onno Govaert, who replaced Franco. Govaert is known from the
group Cactus Truck and his work with pianist Kaja Draksler and guitarist
Terrie Hessels.
The artwork of Summer Bummer's cover, a painting by Amado’s father, the
famous painter Manuel Amado (whose paintings were used before on other
recordings of Amado) suggests a relaxed, breezy atmosphere. Fortunately,
there is nothing leisured in the music of The Attic. The live settings,
naturally, sharpness the free-improv aesthetics of this trio and the art of
the moment, obviously, demands intensity and urgency. But, The Attic is more
focused on the collective, quite calm manners in which the hard-working and
strong-minded Amado, Almeida and Govaert stimulate each other, negotiate,
contemplate and even meditate about building tension, flow, control and
form. The Attic never subscribe to common structures or stock rhythmic
solutions but evolves its powerful momentum organically, always expanding
its palette of expressive colors and subtle rhythmic nuances. Guy Peters,
who experienced The Attic live and wrote the liner notes to Summer Bummer,
describes The Attic true essence as its capacity to shape intriguing sounds
and motions into “something extraordinary… transcends itself and turns into
an act of storytelling”.
You may begin to decipher the meaning of the stories of The Attic already
on the first piece “Walking Metamorphosis,” credited to the three
musicians, as also the other two pieces. Amado, as always, has a warm, big and tough sound of his own and is gifted with natural, captivating
charisma. Here, he sounds likes he is adopting the approach of his close collaborator
Joe McPhee, who plays in his quartet, and opts for a more reserved, but
deeply poetic approach. He patiently sketches and intensifies his statements
until the inevitable climaxes, while staying attuned to every nuance of Almeida's and
Govaert's playing. Almeida propels his ideas with creative, aggressive tones while
Govaert offers contrasting dynamics to both Amado and Almeida. The intimate
and lyrical opening of “Free For All” cements that emphatic vibe, but the
last piece, “Aimless At The Beach”, is clearly the most compelling and
beautiful one. Amado plays here with great restraint but with a deep,
soulful voice while keeping a detailed, conversational interplay.
0 comments:
Post a Comment