Kaze & Ikue Mori: Crustal Movement

Crustal Movement is the seventh album from the Peter Orins/Satoko Fujii founded quartet-turned-quintet, Kaze. Now billed as Kaze & Ikue Mori, it represents the second consecutive album from the French- Japanese collective where the electronics artist has played a significant role. The two trumpeters, and original group members, Natsuki Tamura, and Christian Pruvost round out the group.

Over the course of more than ten years, Kaze, and their one-time extended sextet, Trouble Kaze, have played at the outer fringes of free improvisation. Like a number of Fujii's pandemic/post-pandemic creations, Crustal Movement was largely a product of remote file sharing. Taking that process a step further, Orins and Pruvost added live recordings to the mix. Somehow, the group molded the individual contributions into a coherent collection. That is to say, coherent in the context of a group that principally rejects the predictable articulation of ideas.

The lengthiest piece on the album is the opening "Masoandro Mitsoka." Like a tornado that touches down, and evaporates, only to strike again, it is a fusion of sounds as instinctual as it is coarse. Only at the end of the third track. "Rolle Cake," does the group take a fleeting shot at letting the instruments speak in their native tongues. The group quickly returns to abstract extremes on "Shifting Blocks" with Tamura and Mori emulating each other in strained, upper terrains. "No Twist" features the trademark quality of Fujii's amalgamation of noise and ethereal beauty in an eleven-minute kaleidoscope. The title track closes Crustal Movement with its most engaging piece. The long-form improvisation is full of mystery, screaming eruptions, near-calm, and bits that verge on anarchy.

The music on Crustal Movement is adventurous, as would be expected with this lineup. And while it is not for everyone, there is an always intriguing idiosyncrasy about these improvisations; they do not slouch. Even in the rare moments of relative quiet, there is indescribable kinetic energy.