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Jen Shyu and Jade Tongue: Zero Grasses: Ritual for The Losses
ByBassist Thomas Morgan starts off "Father Slipped Into Eternal Dream" with pensive, bittersweet lines. Shyu's mournful vocals, framed by the somber yet riotous performance of her bandmates, brim with spirituality. The song's words form a straightforward and poignant narrative about life, the inevitability of death and making peace with loss. Shyu fills her chanting recitation with sorrow and fiery passion, yet concludes on a serene note. Her sidemen complement her singing harmonically and emotionally with deft elegance.
Elsewhere, on "Lament for Breonna Taylor ,'' drummer Dan Weiss' sparse strikes and Shyu's whispering voice build a haunting ambience. Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, with his reverberating tones, together with violist Mat Maneri, who mirrors Morgan's con arco phrases, play an intimate dirge. Shyu tells Taylor's tragic story with subtle drama and poignant poetry. She expresses sadness interwoven with anger as the track merges into the next, "The Human Color,'' a contemplative condemnation of racism.
Shyu also plays a couple of stringed instruments, the Taiwanese moon lute and the Japanese biwa. She opens the moving "Display of the Moon" with an introspective, strummed solo. A polyglot, Shyu sings in Japanese a wistful and ethereal ballad, accompanying herself on the biwa . Akinmusire's expansive trumpet underscores the expressive melody with delightful tension. Weiss and Morgan alternate spare and vivid thumps and thuds adding to the piece's mysticism and devotional atmosphere.
As with Shyu's other albums, Zero Grasses: Ritual For The Losses is a singular, genre-defying work of sublime beauty. With it, Shyu has recorded her best work to date and one which is simultaneously timely and timeless. The disc's superb balance of sentiments, together with its absorbing artistry and imaginative compositions, make a provocative and rewarding listening experience.
Track Listing
1. Living's a Gift | Part 1: Springtime; Living's a Gift | Part 2: Everything for Granted; Living's a Gift | Part 3: My Unsolved Regrets; Living's a Gift | Part 4: Joyful; Lament for Breonna Taylor; The Human Color; A Cure for the Heart's Longing; Body of Tears; When I Have Power; Finally She Emerges; Display Under the Moon; Father Slipped Into Eternal Dream; With Eyes Closed You See All; Life As You Envision.
Personnel
Jen Shyu
vocalsAmbrose Akinmusire
trumpetThomas Morgan
bass, acousticMat Maneri
violaDan Weiss
drumsAdditional Instrumentation
Jen Shyu: percussion, piano, Taiwanese moon lute, Japanese biwa.
Album information
Title: Zero Grasses: Ritual for The Losses | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: Pi Recordings