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Steph Richards: Zephyr
ByNever shying from challenge, Richards and White combine for some coercive flights of fancy on each of Zephyr's twelve impulsive novellas, each its own burst of recognition and decoy. Heralding the coming of new life, the head track jumps from Richards' opening uplift only to mutate, through sombre timbral cycles, into a state of constant alertness before ending on a frenzied, pounding, anxious thunder.
As any mother-to-be or informed citizen should know, there are forces at work both inside ourselves and outside our lives that can make or break the strongest among us. Warbling and watery, "Anza" confirms those suspicions. White seems to be feeling the keys for a lullaby as Richards communes in utero with her new life within. "Nixie" is forcefully original music, as White hurls clusters and clusters of chords at Richards who deftly (defensively?) darts and dangles targets. "Sacred Sea" is the respite, though it is still only five quiet moments under a severely broken sky.
Like Cecil Taylor, Matthew Shipp, or the more contemporaneous spirit of Kris Davis, White breaks the trance, breaks into Richards' almost jubilant telling of "Cicada" with a voice that contradicts yet supports his partner's argument. At times sawing, breathing, snarling, chasing, the closing four-part "Aurora" suite (for lack of a better, more conclusive term) ups the manic, yet strangely mediative intensity. Accompanied by a slow cinema short film directed by Vipal Mongay, Zephyr is not, please take note, for the feint or faint of heart.
Track Listing
Zephyrl Anza; Amphitrite; Nixie; Sacred Sea; Sequia; Cicada; Heyyookkee; Aurora I; Aurora II; Aurora III; Aurora IV.
Personnel
Steph Richards
trumpetJoshua White
pianoAlbum information
Title: Zephyr | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Relative Pitch Records
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