On ‘Sketch A’ organ (Tom Aldrich) fades in; quirky rhythms and strange time signatures, throbbing bass (Chad Langford), extravagant snare work (Pierre Aetemus), noodling guitar (Sean Moran), right channel; wisps of synth (Ivo Bol) signalling a sudden sidestep with some coruscating guitar at 2:40, that is just the first three minutes! ‘Night Crossing’ follows, reminiscent at times of King Crimson, a playful Canterbury prog vibe with a soupçon of dub. As the title suggests the music calms down on ‘Passed the Storm’ which surpasses even the remarkable music that has preceded it, a classic electric piano and Phil Miller-like guitar, Hatfield and the North seeming an obvious reference point to my ears. A wondrous retro organ is predominant on ‘Feel Like a Man’, with well-constructed guitar breaks, the rhythm section excels (funky bass!), a distinctive mid-period King Crimson is felt but, make no mistake there is nothing that derivative about this unique musical cocktail. I loved the ‘outer limits’ synth vignettes and again the music on ‘BIP’ is redolent of a line of Canterbury bands – Egg, Hatfield and the North included, concluding with otherworldly phased effects.
‘Brunette’ is the longest piece so far at around 7-minutes and is a fine composition, filmic and balladic, charged with and atmospherics, containing enchanting guitar lines (and an ear-catching solo) and arpeggios in the transition, and synth choruses, adorned also by a neat retro organ break. ‘Grid and Meridian’ takes the band into jazz-rock fusion à la Isotope, Jeff Beck and In Cahoots perhaps, but more organ based. There is an intriguing spoken addition to the music on ‘Lydian Riff’ by performance artist Esther Mugambi (the coda is breathtaking in its beauty), who also sings on jazz-tinged ‘The Purge’, and a narration by the bassist on ‘Undertow’ (the piano playing and guitar breaks are striking, the drumming and bass work indeed providing a magnificent undertow), but otherwise the album is instrumental. The 14 plus minutes of concluding track ‘Sketch C’ showcases the more improvisational aspects of the band’s music.
Now, the press notes use the adjectives ‘quixotic’ and ‘unorthodox’ to describe the music, although by past standards I would say this does not make it any less accessible than some of the influences suggested above. There is no questioning the description of the music as stylistically varied and incorporating songs within songs. The title’s literal translation is ‘Book of Tropes’. We are reminded that medieval composers would use tropes to “insert their own voices into canonical church music”. The band is right to say that ‘trope’ has relevance in that they have a created a new context and essence in their music. Congratulations to Tom Aldrich and Zolder Ellipsis for pulling this ambitious project off in fine style in what must rank as one of my ‘albums of the year’.
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