Five of the six songs on this album are improvisations from the trio of Dave Anderson (bass), Tom Chute (drums and percussion) and Dave Easley (pedal steel guitar, guitar, vocals), with the last being a song by Easley where Kass Krebs joins on additional vocals. Apparently the three musicians all came to this trio from different genres, but here have combined to produce something which is experimental yet has its roots in fusion. Chute is the driving force for this release, and one can clearly hear that he is the jazz musician among them in the way he keeps changing his approach. What is interesting about this is that while Anderson is a phenomenal player, he often keeps things quite low key and somewhat repetitive, and the impression very much is that he and Chute are working together to provide a song-based platform for Easley to play against. I hear a great deal of improvised music these days, and this is far more mainstream than the avant garde approach favoured by many.
“Slender Forest”, the one song, does contain some similar elements to the rest of the album but is far more psychedelic pop in its nature and quite reminiscent of Jeremy Morris, far removed from the jazz we hear elsewhere. Easley is very fond of his pedal steel, using it to provide sounds one would more normally associate with a touch guitar and pedals, here in a far more straightforward manner. “Pop Medley From Outer Space” is one of the more exciting numbers, with Anderson here bowing his bass in the introduction and Chute being far more dynamic, and it is when they allow themselves to experiment more that their music really comes to life. At twelve minutes in length it is the second longest on the album, with the title cut closing it, more than 18 minutes long. For me, although this is mostly improvised, there is somehow too much structure within it, possibly due to the musicians actually knowing each other too well and not wanting to take any musical risks. This means that often it is quite middle of the road in its approach, and while that may be enjoyable for many, I do prefer mine to be more out there. This can easily be found on Bandcamp so why not give it a listen.
Rating: 6/10
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