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Josh Arcoleo
Snowpoet: Heartstrings
by Andrew Hunter
Snowpoet, led by the creative partnership of Lauren Kinsella and Chris Hyson has been releasing reliably engaging, curious music since 2014's self-released Butterfly. Heartstrings, their fourth full length record, was written through a series of group improvisations from which the ten songs here grew. Moving away from their accustomed writing habits was a bold decision considering the strength of their carefully crafted writing in the past. Regardless of approach, Heartstrings opens on reassuringly familiar ground. Hyson's harmonic sense ...
Continue ReadingSnowpoet (Lauren Kinsella & Chris Hyson): Heartstrings
by Geno Thackara
If the soul of a poet is determined to follow the muse anywhere, that means being ready to accept some emotional ups and downs--or if not always ready, then willing to take the ride anyway. Wordsmith Lauren Kinsella and sonic craftsman Chris Hyson have certainly taken their share of creative swings under the Snowpoet name, crossing her emotive musings with his instrumental backing of experimental-electro-chamber-folk. It makes for a colorful and often whimsical melange, like an exhibit of impressionist paintings ...
Continue ReadingSlowly Rolling Camera: Silver Shadow
by Geno Thackara
Apparently you can roll quite a long way in a decade, slowly or not. To jump from Slowly Rolling Camera's self-titled debut (Edition, 2014) to Silver Shadow feels like hearing two different bands entirely. Granted, they switched from vocal songs to all-instrumental pieces along the way, so just about any outfit would sound completely changed. Besides that obvious shift in tone, though, this trio's electro-jazz-hop fusion has also come a long way in itself--and yet to those who might have ...
Continue ReadingSlowly Rolling Camera: Flow
by Geno Thackara
At first glance, it looks like an album they were always destined to make. Natural flow has been one central characteristic of Slowly Rolling Camera since the start. From their beginnings in quasi-trip-hop/jazztronica fusion, through a shift into a picturesque instrumental outfit, they have always been effortlessly fluid and comfortable with a good slow burn. They have seemed to be following a sort of elemental theme as well, with Juniper (Edition, 2018) setting down some earthy roots and Where the ...
Continue ReadingJeff Williams: Road Tales - Live At London Jazz Festival
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Some live albums impress with the sophistication of restraint or sonic clarity, others simply boast energy. Veteran drummer Jeff Williams' Road Tales: Live At London Jazz Festival unmistakably belongs to the latter. Vested with two handfuls of original compositions and an adept cast of sidemen, Williams delivers a fiery set of saxophone-led post-bop that revisits a number of tunes from the drummer's past albums and presents a couple of new pieces. Since joining Whirlwind recordings, Williams has been ...
Continue ReadingJosh Arcoleo: Beginnings
by Chris May
Josh ArcoleoBeginningsEdition Records2012 Over the decades since Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young were making their reputations, forging in their wake two very different paradigms for the tenor saxophone, the instrument's players have acquired something of the aura of the gunslingers of the American Frontier. Other instruments lend themselves to compare-and-contrast, too, but there is something uniquely high noon about the tenor and its place in jazz legend. Although ...
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