For the latest issue of his Climbing In Circles series, drummer Will Glaser has brought in long-time collaborator Matthew Herd on sax and piano and trumpeter Alex Bonney, here stretching his electronic legs.
The opening piece introducing Matthew’s piano is rife with sustain builds in a way that feels as though the walls of the room are rising away to reveal the kind of auditorium that echoes with portent. The beating of the piano changes the vibe and helps introduce this rather plaintive horn that is pursued by rumbling, progressive percussion which fills in all gaps, producing a vacuum that keeps all sound in. The sax wails and cries with echo squeezing into the higher nooks, lending a surprising sunrise to a maudlin scene.
The drums are the key to a lot of the pieces here and lend texture and drama. The snaking, cymbal-friendly spread that encircles “Spiral Dance” gives a folk tint with the sax sweet but slightly puzzled. The rhythm meanders, forcing the track in different directions, branching eastwards at points; while in “Bad Dream Machines”, it sounds as though somebody is playing the drinks cabinet in a jolly, skipping manner. The sax manages to stay in keeping with the percussive eccentricities and you feel that it would like to go jazzy, but can’t quite manage it and instead disappears down a well in some kind of dub experiment. The percussion is irrepressible and irresistible in most places, but can nestle into the background if needed. The drifting, amorphous “Subterranea” is a case in point, Alex’s electronic smears pregnant with echo while the percussion rustles behind it, itching for a chance to funnel it way into a vibrant awakening replete with dreamy sax. It is impressive how these pieces have been produced from studio workouts as most have a form and feel of rehearsed pieces, and “Of The Woods” wouldn’t be out of place in a cool jazz selection, its easy beat and jaunty sax belying its improv heart.The 5am lullaby “Ballad In The Jazz Style” is just that; a smoky, sensual whirl, the intensely romantic drums couching the sax in a warm blanket that reflects weirdly the abstract detour of “Psithurism”, It is like an explosion in a nursery, full of bells and whistles, and you can imagine them having a riot in the studio recording it. Disappearing into a maelstrom of echo, it re-emerges in another realm and sounds all the better for it. It is a joyful listen that sounds as though everybody enjoyed the session and when the final track arrives, a curled-up-on-the-sofa, dreaming of somebody melancholy that echoes the opening piece, it is cracked wide open by seismic dream disturbances that bounce you out of your reverie when you least expect it.
Giving you what you want and then giving you something you didn’t realise you wanted but then feels essential is Will, Matthew and Alex’s stock in trade, and this is album is a fantastic excursion into their collective mind. Excellent stuff.-Mr Olivetti-
