Novas Trio - Time Choir (s/r, 2023)

By Sammy Stein

Drummer and composer Rodrigo Recabarren is from Santiago de Chile, but is now based in Brooklyn, NYC. Over the past decade, Recabarren has recorded and toured with artists including Guillermo Klein, Claudia Acuña, Perico Sambeat, Brad Shepik, Melissa Aldana, Camila Meza, and Jeff Miles, among others. He is also part of projects and groups including Beekman, MURAL, and Novas Trio.

Novas Trio is Jeff Miles (Tomoko Omura, Dan Loomis, Kat Vokes, and more) on guitars and vocals, Carlos Vera Larrucea (Santiago Philharmonic Orchestra, Estay Vera Duo, Carlos Vera Quartet, and more) on vibraphone and malletkat, and Recabarren on drums and percussion.

Time Choir follows their previous albums Borderfall in 2012 and Gravity’s Empire in 2016. Recabarren describes the trio’s music as, “instrumental and very experimental,” and he is right. It is experimental and improvised, yet the trio has crafted an adventurous sound integrating Latin American roots with the tradition of jazz improvisation and indie rock. Of the album, Recabarren says, “There are so many of us on this planet and we are incredibly thankful to be sharing this journey with you who drive and inspire us.”

From the expansive opening track, the music lures the listener as it creates different moods, changes, and atmospheres. ‘A Box Shaped Heart’ lasts over eight minutes, and is packed with rhythm changes, style variations, dynamic movement, and sonic interludes that weave their complexities around each other in a seamless, variable, yet uncontrived way.

‘Princess Irulan’ is expansive, lusty, and full of rich textures, overridden somewhat by the synth that travels across the top, working obtrusive lines over the harmonies – that somehow work when they should not.

Across the album, there is a regular placement of slightly opposed harmonics, and this creates intrigue and interest because further listens allow the brain to figure out what it was your ears just picked up. Subtle and clever, this drives interest.

Each track is different and includes a feature, like ‘Princess Irulan’ with its vocal lines from Miles, and chunky rhythm patterns, or ‘Chuki’ with its vibraphone introduction and off-set rhythms that alter subtly, then completely before working back to the original patterns.

The stand-out track is ‘Nothing Personal’ with its rocky, experimental, and divergent themes, interwoven with dynamic styling from the vibraphone and percussion. The deep grooves nestling in the background of this track provide a settled backdrop – in most places at least– over which the others rise and soar. However, that settled pattern changes almost without the listener being aware, and the track develops into an intense, divergent, and quite beautiful creation.

There is an experimental element to this music, yet it is intricately connected to Latin and jazz roots. ‘Buscando’ is another track which, over little more than eight minutes, includes musical pathways leading to changes, switches and dynamic deviations, while ‘Calcomania’ shows just how much variation can be achieved using a single rhythm pattern, and ‘When It Rains’ is (almost) a traditional jazz pattern – laced, of course, with the Novas Trio take.

Despite there being just three musicians and no bass, the music feels full and well-arranged to create layered, fulsome tracks.

Interesting, different, and well worth a listen.

www.novastrio.com