Multi-instrumentalist Chlöe Herington has moved through the multi faceted likes of Chrome Hoof and Knifeworld before alighting at V Ä L V Ē, an opportunity for her, along with fellow Chrome Hoof alumnus Emma Sullivan, to explore more literary-minded and progressive ideas that don't necessarily fit into the various collaborations of which she is part.
Mr Olivetti
740 posts
Working around found sounds and interweaving the thoughtful sentiments of her fellow players, pianist Russ Lossing and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi, so that it becomes a windswept and all-encompassing traipse across the city; taking in cafes, Métro stations, markets and more, enveloped by and embracing completely the quotidian city life that generates its own element of the soundtrack.
That heavy fug of distorted guitars will be familiar to any alternative fan of a certain age, but their way of weaving them together is warming and effective. With feet on pedals they push on as the vocals drawl and drip, melting into the lolloping '90s groove as stuttering solos burst out of the surf.
With Jon Rune Strøm on bass and Gard Nilssen on drums, you know that you have a limber and flexible rhythm section able to bend themselves to whichever whims come their way; but to make it truly magical we also have Johan Lindström on pedal steel and Mattias Ståhl on vibes. This is an unlikely combination but works so well, propelling the pieces from feel-good jazz into some other parallel universe where we might be sashaying around a tiki bar on a sunlit beach.
We make our way towards it and spy the ancient instruments intone slowly and tremulously, and a roll of thunder embodies a warning of things yet to come. Water seeps in threatening to engulf as Maja's wordless utterances throw you somewhere completely new, just the Hardanger fiddle and bells indicating we are still within the warm reach of the campfire.
Diverse trumpeter and flugelhorn player Charlotte Keeffe is a restless soul and one who itches for musical opportunities. For this album, she has has re-assembled the quartet that appeared on the previous album Right Here, Right Now and thrown them into the studio to see what can come from this immediate interaction.
That stop-start mania leaps at you right off the bat. They turn on the taps and liquid craziness assails us immediately; that searing acoustic drive, the internal rhythms and prettiness of the drums and guitar together, ever entwining and ever expanding, twisted into unexpected shapes. The cheval gallop, the occasional strut of the guitar or its dizzying cyclical patterns, or even the Spanish-inflected modesty. It is all here.
It really feels like a step back in time with the opening bossa beat straight out of an enormous rhythm machine, standing in the corner of a sunken-floor living room with shag pile carpets and orange wallpaper. The comfort of the sax, the sway of the background strings, the title "Have Some Punch"; it all evokes a hip party, ladies in flowing nylon dresses sashaying around the drinks cabinet.
For Portuguese guitarist Pedro Velasco's first solo outing on guitar, he is searching deep within himself, looking at memory and solitude and how that can be interpreted in a solo guitar manner. Working simply through an eight-track and a mixer, he has produced a wealth of emotionally resonant vignettes that linger in the mind long after the sound has dissipated.
Although perhaps better known as one half of Suicide, Martin's solo career was sporadic but he was heavily invested in it, the tracks at points ranging from rock'n'roll inflected flurries through drifting desert atmospheres right through to impressionistic industrial workouts. Although often made with the cheapest of instruments, the range of ideas and textures was vast.
The foursome gathered together for the inaugural Fjall release From The Rough Hill has a veritable cornucopia of instruments, with Martin Archer on a variety of reeds and electronics, Jan Todd playing three forms of harp plus the psaltery, and percussionists Fran Comyn and Richard Jackson including bells, bowls, gongs and field recordings.
Paradise Of Bachelors Considering who was involved in this Setting album, I was surprised and pleasantly so by the long-form drone and distant percussives that emanated from the speakers. Ironically to me, it sounded more like rising than setting, and while the offset tones generated by synth, harmonium and others […]
Not Applicable Drummer and composer Tim Giles has been in and out of bands and collaborations for the last twenty-five years. This is his first solo album in that time and is a labour of love that he has been concocting over the last five years, marrying his penchant for […]
This final section of a possible trilogy also coincided with his mother's passing and her spirit looms large over the proceedings, her recorded voice appearing at points, warmly recalling past events and putting the future into some perspective. Live, Murmurists can number as many as 100; but here for ithyphall.brel.gory is not the same as you, the players either cast as orators or musicians number into the thirties with some doubling up in both roles.
Bass player and composer Vilhelm Bromander's list of groups and affiliates is as long as my arm, and due to his presence and standing in the experimental jazz scene has managed to draw quite an impressive collection of collaborators around him for his latest adventure, a spiritually minded thirteen-piece that drifts effortlessly through three very different scenarios, highlighting the joy and melancholy inherent in the chosen instruments.
His hard work of re-revitalising the accordion, putting it into a more contemporary situation, has really paid off and the six pieces chosen here veer all over the place but nearly always with accordion centre stage and with good reason.
Agitated California’s psych trio Carlton Melton have been distilling the best parts of the Hawkwind and Spacemen 3 for the best part of fifteen years and producing a sound that is inimitable. Expanding to a four-piece for their second album of 2023, but still pursuing an instrumental nirvana, Turn To […]
The line-up of players gathered together here must be the largest so far, with thirty listed, including three very different vocalists and three very different drummers. As ever, the one thing tying the disparate pieces together besides the questing sense of adventure is Guy's inimitable elastic bass.
Experimental Irish duo Ex-Isles fuse warmly delivered and enigmatic prose poetry with wandering pastoral piano arrangements that draw you into their subtle, politically and personally motivated universe.
It is wonderful to have this kind of diverse compilation available and would be great for current fans, as well as those people looking to dip their toe in. The only problem is, on the strength of the tracks here, you would just want to load up in the entirety of The Monochrome Set's twenty-first century catalogue...