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MC3: Sounds of the City
ByThe contrast between the guitar and trumpet really shows on "Back To North" with Clark's springy figures vibrating quietly as Keeffe cries and squawks. The lingering guitar chords played on "Alterations" lead the trumpeter into a mellower frame of mind. She plays longer lines with a smeared and raspy sound which actually carry a downbeat shade of melody. Edmunds rattles his drums with brushes and helps make the entire track into something of a low-key blues.
On "Autobiography of a Poet" Clark begins with twisty single note phrases which sound like Robert Fripp doing warm-up exercises, while the trumpet exhales, snorts and breathes. The guitar lines and percussive accents start to gain speed and volume, andby the time Edmunds actually starts hitting his drumsthe piece sounds like a minimalist King Crimson jam. By contrast, on "Traffic" the guitar and drums sketch out a conventional, slow-rocking rhythm, irritated by Keeffe's ghostly noises, which eventually twists into a chatty trio improvisation. Then Clark takes the lead voice as his angular, chopping riffs duel with Keeffe's wispy spurts of song and the music comes out as a sort of brusque, clipped funk.
This trio produces a version of free playing which uses familiar traces of music to give a frame to its more radical elements . This brings an appealing warmth and humor to the work, and is a far cry from the usual forbidding stereotypes given to free music.
Track Listing
Existentialism for Trumpet; Back on North; Conversation #1 (Dispatches); Altercations; Conversation #2 (In Hari’s); Autobiography of a Poet; Traffic; Conversation #3 (Stray Cats).
Personnel
Additional Instrumentation
Charlotte Keeffe: flugelhorn.
Album information
Title: Sounds of the City | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Phonocene Records
Comments
Tags
MC3
Album Review
Jerome Wilson
Sounds of the City
Phonocene Records
Matt Clark
Derek Bailey
Charlotte Keefe
James Edmunds
Robert Fripp
King Crimson