Sifters: Sifters

Drummer Kate Gentile is a restlessly innovative improviser and composer who does not shy away from pushing boundaries. In the equally adventurous guitarist Marc Ducret and experimenting saxophonist Jeremy Viner, she has found kindred spirits. Together, they make up the collaborative Sifters. Their eponymous release consists of seven stimulating originals delivered with seamless camaraderie, as the group often functions as a single dynamic unit.

For instance, Gentile's "Flail Maneuvers" is a provocative piece built around a thrillingly riotous repartee.  The textured ensemble play deftly fuses composed passages with spontaneous ones. Gentile's thunderous polyrhythms, Ducret's blistering chords, and Viner's fiery phrases coalesce into a delightfully dissonant performance that is cohesive without sacrificing the individualities of the bandmates.  

The three musicians explore a range of motifs and moods throughout this imaginative album while maintaining thematic unity.  Ducret opens his own wistful "Tarot" with an unaccompanied musing that serves as a foundation for the haunting collective refrains.  These slowly evolve, building a cinematic mood in which the trio members take off on complementary yet independent streams of consciousness.  

Elsewhere, the music on Viner's soulful "Tenons"  is passionate and lyrical.  Ducret's darkly reverberating strings underscore the saxophonist's mellifluous, wailing lines.  Gentile drives the music with her percolating beats and concludes it with her exhilarating solo.  Throughout, the ambience remains tense and the poetic sense unabated.

The most captivating track on this uniformly superb recording is Gentile's "90 Cairns." It starts with an elegant, angular duet between Gentile and Ducret.  Within this framework, Viner plays a sinewy and incandescent melody.  Energetic three-way exchanges ensue, peppered with bluesy hints.  Midway, the atmosphere becomes somber, hence more dramatic.  Gentile punctuates the ethereal silence with rustling percussion while Ducret's resonant guitar echoes within it.  Viner's warm extemporization mirrors the others' conceptually and in temperament as the ensemble ends the yearning tune on a poignant note.

Simultaneously accessible and exploratory, Sifters is a brilliant demonstration of sublime teamwork and artistic ingenuity.  Each person brings their unique vision to the mix without asserting their ego; together, they form a creative force that is more than the sum of its parts.