by S. Victor Aaron
There’s been a quiet trend of the last fifteen or so years that seems to be picking up steam lately. That is, to approach jazz from the dreamy and sometimes rough textures of alt rock and electronics. There’s even a name for this: post-rock. Tortoise was one of the first groups to attempt this, and remains one of the most successful at it.
Post-rock is a genre that’s tough to pull off right: if the music gets too hypnotic and droning, it can sedate listeners and fails to distinguish itself from ambient music. On the other hand, if it gets too busy, it just sounds like a bunch of rockers playing jazz, which usually isn’t pretty. Mercury Falls is a new band that you could put in that “post-rock” pigeonhole, but whether you want to call it that, or jazz fusion or instrumental rock, I think these guys figured it out right from the start.
Mercury Falls is a quartet of guys who bring a wealth of experience in rock, folk, jazz, classical, electronic and world music. Patrick Cress (woodwinds, flute) and Ryan Francesconi (guitar, electronics) provides the compositions, and are rounded out by Tim Bulkley (drums) and Eric Perney (acoustic bass). Their inaugural release Quadrangle came out last week, and it’s one that took several years to make, but the payoff comes in a well-constructed album that minds the details. But this ain’t no Steely Dan vibe; think of a kinder, gentler David Torn.
The comparison to Torn comes in the basic way the music is crafted: a strong emphasis on textures and moods, accomplished via carefully placed electronic washes and compositions that are really collections of evolving sonic fragments. You sense that right off on the opening track “Spring Pools,” which starts out with a suspended progression of chords before a riff slowly emerges from the fog. Francesconi throws out the basic melody and Cress delineates on it. Once the vamp comes into focus, so does Bulkley, and soon his accents nearly become a full-blown drum solo behind Cress’ saxes. But it happens in such a non-disruptive way.
For “Quad Idea,” Cress’ various saxes are layered on top of each other as Bulkley metes out a circular rhythm, and the fascinating thing is how the song manages to sound lean despite that. Francesconi relies more on his shimmering electric guitar to provide a wall of atmospheric sounds on “Years Without Speech,” while “Solar Plexus” gradually pulls together low-keyed percussive elements into a unified rhythmic charge through Francesconi’s electronically produced clouds of noise and revolving around Perney’s insistent pulse.
Mercury Falls’ Quadrangle is a first step that is no misstep. The only real quibble is the sub-forty minute running time; I would have liked to have heard one more track from this CD. In a way, though, that’s a compliment. Quadrangle is for moderate moods, but when you’re in that mood, you want to hear more of this record.
Quadrangle is offered by Porto Franco Records.
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