Recorded on my 61st birthday (I kid you not), here we find James Mainwaring (saxophones), Dave Kane (double bass) and Emil Karlsen (drums) kicking up a storm. Three of the 12 songs were composed by Mainwaring, five by Kane, while the others are fully improvised. They take their musical influences from incredibly diverse fields of music, including free jazz, grunge, death metal, hip hop, bebop, & experimental music. Kane says, “we are the sum of our record collections, the films we have seen, the books we have read. It all goes into the mix to make our music.”
The improvised numbers are, as one would expect, far looser with less pure continuity as each person looks to the others to understand what is going to happen next and what direction the collective are going to move in, and they are spread through the album which is a nice idea as they totally change the mood. This is when Karlsen really comes into his own as a soloist, as with the composed numbers he normally sits in a more supporting role, but when the three are equals, he allows himself more spontaneity. Overall this is a fascinating release which while rooted in jazz and improvisational music is also truly progressive in the way it breaks down genres and barriers and makes for a fascinating release which is fully of vitality, emotion and passion.
Rating: 8/10