Light On Dark Water

Let me state right off that the artist is my son, and that I probably would never have heard this music otherwise.  There is so much recorded music available today that no one can even keep up with the titles, much less listen to more than a very tiny fraction of it. If you don't have something to bring it to your attention, such as the daily eMusic list of new releases which I often glance at, you may have no idea of the rate at which new music is released: an average day on eMusic sees anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred releases.

Moreover, this is a type of music which is not necessarily a big interest of mine. But I can honestly say that I've come to really love the album, and I think I would have done so without the familial connection, in the unlikely event it would have come my way otherwise.

Having said that, I must make some attempt to say what kind of music it is. It has roots in the field of free improvisation, which is sometimes linked to jazz and sometimes to contemporary classical music, but it doesn't really fit in either of those boxes. The description from Jesse's web site is as good as any: 

An all-acoustic ensemble playing a strikingly original mix of chamber music, improvisation, and tune-oriented melodic material…

It's a quartet of unusual composition: clarinet/bass clarinet, guitar, cello, and trombone. As readily as with either jazz or classical, I would connect some of it (not all) with ambient music. But ambient is typically more static than this, more interested in establishing a mood, or a "space," as the guy on Music from the Hearts of Space likes to say, and typically, as the name suggests, doesn't necessarily expect your close attention. And it isn't free improv, either, or only partially: these pieces rest on a composed foundation, with improvisation happening over that. So it isn't completely unstructured or lacking in recognizable music elements, like much free improv, or like modern composed music which sounds unstructured to the non-musician whether or not it actually is (cf. Schonberg vs. Cage). It's a combination of very accessible and very "out" sounds, which is a combination I've always liked. 

It's a very poetic album, as suggested by the cover and the titles: "Earth Beneath," "Open Door," "Long Walk." The full track list implies a progression, almost a narrative, from the chthonic "Earth Beneath," rising, encountering, looking about, reflecting, subsiding again to the chthonic with the closing "Descent." Overall the mood is quiet, even somber, though not necessarily peaceful, with a sense of deep mystery. There's an underlying restlessness and a sense of unanswered questioning. Some parts may strike the average listener as chaotic and perhaps cacophonic, others are downright pretty. 

My favorite tracks are the longer ones, which allow considerable variety in the contributions of the four members while sustaining a mood. The only one I'm not especially enthusiastic about is the solo percussive guitar piece, "Acrophobia," which might be appropriate, since I come pretty close to suffering from acrophobia (fear of heights) myself.

You can hear samples and purchase the album at CD Baby. Unfortunately I don't have a YouTube or other full-length track for you, but the samples are representative. I wouldn't have called the collection Vertigo, which of course is a quite unpleasant sensation. The CD Baby blurb describes it as "completely familiar and totally disorienting at the same time," which also is not necessarily attractive: personally I don't want to be totally disoriented, and don't find the music to be so. Nor do I find it "completely familiar." How about "contemplative and unsettling at the same time"?

I'm pretty familiar with the musical tastes of everyone who participates in discussions about music here, and I don't think this lies in anyone's usual line. So I recommend it, but with a note of caution: it's pretty unconventional. But then it isn't any less approachable than a great deal of contemporary classical music, either. 

 I might mention, too, that I think there is some pretty virtuosic playing here, especially from Jesse himself on clarinet and bass clarinet. If I'm not mistaken, there are parts of "Inside Out" (which sounds to me like the song of some great solemn bird) in which a single clarinet is sounding two simultaneous tones.