Back in 2006, improv trio Huntsville were plying their trade at a Quebec music festival where they came across Wilco and over a period of time developed a mutual appreciation society.
, who were not averse to allowing the growing groove to lead where it may lead and for all the players to happily follow. Three of the four tracks collected here are of the sort of length that allow for meandering of the highest order, but also for a gradual sense of momentum to be alchemically produced from the diverse sounds gathered.
The opener “Side Wind” is twenty minutes long and has a kind of organic, industrial intro with the repetition of certain motifs that feel like some sort of coalescing. There is a purity in the acoustic tones and the simple guitar chords that shimmer in their minor key awkwardness, while the hints and rumours of the other players lurk in the shadows. There is a touch of the Chicago sound of the likes of Rex or Pullman in the borrowing of old traditions, but they are infused with a sense of questing discovery that finds them looking out across the frozen lake, yearning for home. As the tracks on Bow Shoulder proceed, so you feel the gradual gathering of the full throng, adding mosaic parts: drums, found sounds, metallic awakenings, tangential and at odds, as if raising the stakes and pushing the other players to produce more. There is a kinetic energy, a flashing momentum with the tabla-like a mirage of locomotion. The insistence and pure energetic drive is all-consuming, with the urgency of the linked bass and tabla drawing you closer into the patchwork of sounds attempting to spot each player’s parts.The track lengths here allow subtle movements and changes of emphasis, and hearing the duel between the quirked guitar and atmospheric electronics is lovely. Things stretch and warp, with the drumbeat covering the uncomfortable and preventing it from collapse as still it builds. They can really highlight distant texture, and the whine of a steel guitar on “Higher” takes the action out into the open with a kind of campfire delirium, the guitar frustrating like a light-bound insect while all else around is steady and simpatico.
The percussion is breaths of wind while the guitar is then trails of smoke, meandering and loose. Hypnotic cyclical motifs emerge, reassuring gradually, and the guitar devolves into two notes around which everything else hangs with a fragility that shows the maxim less is more can never be more apparent. At other points, pure juddering cacophony envelops the opening of “Lower”, and here the players seem to be vying to apply the pressure. It seems extraordinary that seven people are involved; you imagine the chaos and intricacy taking place in the studio, and the way that the inevitable forward motion is gently wrung from the back and forth of ideas and gestures. There is no regression; it is always subtly expanding and the progression is amazing because momentum and hypnosis are always collected. They seem to breathe Chicago into their post-everything-rock locomotion.Industrial themes and empty reverberation sever the electronics of the final piece, recondite activities with souls expanding, banjo cycles and feedback through a wave of energy. By now, their magic is wrought and why it has taken ten years for this to be released is a mystery that need no longer worry us. Bow Shoulder is the sound of perfect interaction and the meeting of minds that does wonders for improv. Immerse yourself in its goodness.
-Mr Olivetti-
