GEORGE: Looking for Consonance

The thing about George—named after George Floyd—is that it allows drummer John Hollenbeck to do almost anything he likes. On the group's second release, Looking for Consonance, he blends elements of prog, avant jazz, pop, ambient, folk, noise and more into an intoxicating, sometimes inscrutable, whole. To abet him in the project, he has recruited an unconventional electro-acoustic lineup of reedist Anna Webber, the vocals and synthesizers of Sarah Rossy and Chiquita Magic, all unchanged from the debut.

While Webber firmly inhabits the jazz ecosystem as evidenced by a string of lauded dates on the Pi and Intakt imprints, the eclectic backgrounds of Colombian Chiquita Magic and Lebanese-Canadian Rossy prove critical here. Their vocals and electronic keys, variously sumptuous, spacey or percussive, furnish the foundations for Hollenbeck's wide-ranging excursions, which mix intricate patterns with a panoply of accessible rhythms.

Rather than generalize, a leap into the practice provides greater illumination. Opener "Bounce" showcases some of the outfit's strong suits: a relentless pounding EDM-reminiscent beat; voice, synth washes and saxophone locked into a thematic swirl; and space for individual expression. Webber brandishes her command of multiphonics in a wonderfully bleating, blaring outing, while Rossy's wordless vocals twist and distort, and Hollenbeck thuds out a pile driving stagger, enhanced by the earthy sound gifted him by the production.

Webber functions as the main soloist, but her flute and sax work integrate fully into the overall schema. She shines on "Lewis" (dedicated to trombonist and composer George Lewis) after a hip-hop inflected beat and airy vocal line combine to launch the long, fraying tones of her flute over stuttered drums. And again on the convoluted "Norma (in support of reproductive autonomy)" when kicking drums and fuzzed synth bass part for a brief free jazz duet from tenor saxophone and drum.

Although Hollenbeck largely utilizes the voices instrumentally, two of the other highlights arrive when the band tackles covers of songs. Rossy beautifully intones the lyrics of the hauntingly sad Lebanese tune "Nassam Alayna-LHawa," whereas she delivers Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez' "Unicornio" as a half-whispered lullaby before it swells into a soft rock anthem with a sunny tenor saxophone fluttering overhead.

The longest cut, the multifaceted "Wayne Phases" (for Wayne Shorter) closes the album. It shifts through various guises, intermittent unisons, drum boogaloo, glitchy shimmer, ticking groove with knotted tenor before ending with an abrupt drum flourish. Like much of the set, it resides resolutely beyond genre and remains all the better for it.