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Tim Berne / Gregg Belisle: Mars

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Tim Berne / Gregg Belisle: Mars
Mars inspires. That blood-red eye orbiting the sun this side of Jupiter served as a muse for Gustav Holtz in the "Mars" portion of his Planets Suite (1916); H.G Wells conjured giant three-legged machines from Mars, wielding death rays and attempting to destroy the Earth; Edgar Rice Burroughs sent John Carter to Barsoom (Mars), where the protagonist met and fell in love with the lovely Princess Dejah Thoris; and Kim Stanley Robinson described a Red Mars (Spectra, 1993), as a cold, arid, red rock of a world explored by Earth astronauts, a dead place which, in his "Mars Trilogy," undergoes a life-giving terraforming which turns the Red Planet green; and ultimately, with the trilogy's final novel, Blue Mars (Spectra, 1997), transforms the planet into a near Earth-like place, with liquid water, rivers and seas.

That, of course, just scratches the surface of Mars-influenced artistry.

Now we have saxophonist Tim Berne, teaming here with guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi, presenting his own version of Mars.

If Mars is the God of War (he is), and Tim Berne is the saxophonist of War—or at least the saxophonist of torrid, in-your-face-intensity (he is)—this Mars of his comes across as a surprisingly gentle sound, leaning much closer to the contemplative side, considering the squalling intensity of the saxophonist's Big Satan, Hard Cell or Snakeoil groups.

It is not that Berne has never explored the placid side of sound before. Most of his recordings include moments of reverie and contemplative asides and eddies. But, taken as a whole, his music usually charges ahead full blast, like H.G. Wells' Martian tripod machines, throwing flames, laying waste and taking no prisoners.

Maybe his partner here, Belisle-Chi, brings out a kinder, gentler side of the combustible saxophonist. Belisle-Chi wields an acoustic guitar on Mars. His sound has a spiritual quality, a patience of delivery which is reflective and graceful. The bet is that Berne's style has rarely been tagged as graceful, but on this set of his original compositions he has dialed back the intensity level a couple (or three) notches, to stand still and smell the roses (or whatever flower they grow on Kim Stanley Robinson's Blue Mars), as he retains his stinging tone, with its sharp, serrated edges which beautifully counterpoint Belisle-Chi's delicate eloquence.

How much does this music have to do with the planet Mars? Not much, maybe. Song titles such as "Big Belly" and "Middle Seat Blues" point to Earth. However, "Giant Squids" and "Microtuna" could be about a fully terraformed Mars with extensive lakes, rivers and transplanted sea life from Earth. There are moments when Berne's saxophone could serve as the aggressive bark of a sea lion, a twenty-third century pinniped, genetically-engineered and imported from its home planet, swimming and swearing in one of Mars' new blue seas. At times, Berne's sound does retain a measure of bothered pinniped truculence, interspersed with weavings of sweet, sinuous lines.

A marvelous new tangent for Tim Berne.

Track Listing

Giant Squids; Middle Seat Blues; Not What You Think They Are; Dark Shadows; Palm Sweat; Rabbit Girl; Big Belly; Frosty; Microtuna; Gastrophobia; Purdy; Rose Bowl Charade.

Personnel

Tim Berne
saxophone, alto
Gregg Belisle-Chi
guitar, acoustic

Album information

Title: Mars | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Intakt Records

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