Other Light Ensemble is a cinematic, generally avant garde jazz collective that sort of defies central location. The recording of their new single “Blue Fifty-One” was recorded in a number of different places, many of which were actually stages.
The single came out last week on Blue Tapes, but don’t let the world single fool you – it’s a twenty-eight minute record, nearly qualifying it for the status of an LP. But we hardly think a thing like that matters to the group – these guys are on an upper level in terms of heady, conceptual grandiosity.
Also, bonus, we get to hear the reliably excellent sax work of Patrick Shiroishi throughout – but who are these scientists, and and what do they want? Well, first let’s let the music do the talking, that’s the important part. Check out the sprawling jazz behemoth below:
Here’s the press release from Blue Tapes as well:
“… Other Light Ensemble is a new operating name for past collaborators Jonathan Hill, Chris Jones, Matthew Redfern and Ryan James Mawbey, and on blue fifty-one they are joined by Tony Buck, Patrick Shiroishi and Alessandro Cau.
While the collective are somewhat coy about exactly who is doing what on this 28-minute composition, “Body of Ritual Tapestry,” it is worth noting that in Ryan, Alessandro and legendary Necks’ sticksman Tony Buck alone they have three of the most gifted and lyrical percussionists operating in improvised music today. Patrick Shiroishi, meanwhile, may be the most acclaimed saxophonist of the post-Brötzmann era.
“Body of Ritual Tapestry” was written and recorded in stages over the course of two years, with emerging sections stitched together in a form of ‘sonic tapestry’. That is interesting, but it doesn’t feel like a collage, it feels like poetry. The piece glides instinctively through different moods and movements. A tense, cinematic build gives way to a bareboned duet for harmonium swells and a saxophone that sounds for all the world like it’s talking, reasoning, explaining – muttering important things. It’s a sound written in hand gestures, hunched shoulders and swirls of smoke from an impressing cigarette.
I can’t explain why, but I understand every syllable.
When the horn steps back from the narrative, shadows swarm all over. That’s what the synths in the third act feel like – swirling, breathing, darkness things. Somewhere just above your head and sucking up all the oxygen. When the sound winds down and finally flames out it’s like a match being struck in reverse. Essential noise for fans of Staraya Derevnya, Minaru, Tashi Dorji and jazz as a psychic force…”
What more can you say, really? It’s an odyssey that’s for sure, but it offers as many scenic moments as it does twists and turns overall – first there’s some sort of glass breaking symphony, then it morphs out into glitching, introspective Oneohtrix Point Never territory as the samples slowly fade and oscillate into Horse Torso-esque baroque insanity. Imagine if Vengalis spent some time deep in the amazon, sinking into the dirt drinking sacred teas and scoring prospective treks for sci-i robots. If it makes any sense, it’s not post-rock, it’s post-cinematic.
Maybe that’s not a thing… but maybe it is now? We’re down whatever it is – check out Other Light Ensemble and more from Blue Tapes here.
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