Colpitts – Music From The Accident

Thrill Jockey

Kid Millions, Oneida drummer, serial collaborator and sonic adventurer has chosen to release this current sonic curveball under his given surname; whether this is to put distance between his other projects, it is hard to know but it makes for another half turn in his scattergun career.

Taking some hints from the recent Jan St Werner collab, the Colpitts album has a hint of the sort of awkward German electronica with which we are familiar, but assistance comes in the form of Greg Fox, with whom John collaborated back in 2019.

This latest is a very different proposition to that drum-centric album, and across the three long, rambling and rather diverse tracks on Music From The Accident, there are points where drums do not figure at all.

Certainly, opener “Bread” is a surprise, with its warm, slowly evolving tones that are constantly overlapping, pouring into gaps like so much spilt mercury. It searches for the cracks that are opening up, as if it were trying to bring solace to some baked desert floor, and feels refreshing in both senses of the word; but second track “Up And Down” is not so much.

The stilted percussion sounds feel as though two tired drummers are playing off one another, like it is the end of a twenty-four hour marathon and they are barely holding on to the sense of rhythm. Its odd hiccups make for an experience that keeps the listener alert, attempting to figure out what is taking place. It staggers widely, with electronic droplets converging on this cold rhythm that is not unlike watching an injured insect attempting to right itself, compelling but strangely affecting.

His choice of collaborators here is once again inspired, and Jessica Pavone on viola and Tom Tierney on bass change things dramatically. The drone comes down over a staggering drum pattern, while the viola stretches and creaks with the dynamic between the three hesitant and apprehensive, telling a story of darkness and despair, as if the accident has precipitated a descent.

It is impossible to think of anything else, the track displaying a creepy tension that builds, which the drums struggle to explain. They stumble and flail, seemingly making progress, but possibly moving in circles. It is a conundrum that never fully reveals itself and that is the part of the joy.

John seems to be the most prolific of the Oneida guys and is certainly covering loads of ground with each project. I have really been enjoying watching where his directions of travel, and this release is just another in his hugely enjoyable bank of ideas. Where next? I can’t even guess.

-Mr Olivetti-