Devouring the Guilt: Not to Want to Say

Insouciance is not the correct word to describe Not To Want To Say by the trio Devouring The Guilt. The music is not "cool" or '"ndifferent" as much as it has an equanimity or a casualness not commonly found in free improvisation. This release, which follows the trio's eponymous debut (Amalgam, 2017) and Prison Planet (Kettle Hole Records, 2020) differs in that it contains not an ounce of anxiousness.

One explanation might be that this disc was captured in the studio, unlike the trio's previous live recordings. Devouring The Guilt is a Chicago-centric effort fashioned in the same manner as late 20th-century avant-Chicago musicians modeled their sound after the European musicians such as the music Peter Brötzmann, Peter Kowald, and Paul Lytton created for the FMP label. Saxophonist Gerrit Hatcher can track the sound of the aforementioned Brötzmann, but he also draws from a blues tradition, the same sound you might affix to Chicago's Fred Anderson. Besides several excellent solo recordings, he released The Good Instinct of the Morning (Kettle Hole Records, 2020) with Ben LaMar Gay, Katie Ernst, Julian Kirshner and Keefe Jackson.

This trio is a true equilateral triangle with balanced contributions by each musician. Bassist Eli Namay, who splits his time between Pittsburgh and Chicago, acts as the driver throughout the two lengthy tracks, pushing or slowing the pace and setting the mood. His arco bow work can alternately be biting and soothing. Likewise, drummer Bill Harris has a second foot on the accelerator, sometimes distorting time and at other moments providing off-kilter comments to the three-way conversation. The unperturbed manner in which the trio glides through this session, even with its bursts of energy, is unique and impressive.