feature photo: Emilia Sauaia
Christopher Bono has had an interesting career arc going from being drafted by the Seattle Mariners to playing guitar in alt-rock bands to studying classical composition on his way to becoming the composer, producer and instrumentalist he is today. I’d probably add conceptualist to his list of titles, because he writes music as part of a grander scheme, putting together larger ensembles, mixing and matching musicians and employing unorthodox arrangements to get a certain sound and feel from the songs that go far beyond notes printed on sheet music.
Bono had founded the ambient post-rock band Ghost Against Ghost, but his Nous project is further aspirational, and even within that venture are several branches and sub-branches to the Nous tree. Nous III is merely the final chapter of Nous’ first incarnation. Here, he mines his extensive studies in classical composition infused with such a long list of idiom influences — from post-rock and ambient to Neo-Shamanism and free jazz –- that it defies classification into any style.
He’s certainly not short on ambition.
For Nous III, Bono put together a small group of very capable musicians (Greg Fox, Shahzad Ismaily, Thor Harris, Grey McMurray) then supplemented it tactically with strings and Alex Sopp’s flutes. Except for Austin-based Harris, these are ace musicians plucked from the celebrated Downtown NY scene and thrust into a setting unfamiliar to even these seasoned vets. Bono urged them to use meditation to purge themselves of habits and interact with musicians they have not ever played with previously. Though he scored the music, it’s highly likely even Bono didn’t know ahead of time how the end result would turn out because he so openly invited instincts to take over.
Bono leads this ensemble like an orchestra, even when it’s not exactly orchestra size. In an odd way, that makes his music even more experimental than it might otherwise be, because a secret sauce is in how he deploys his band, sometimes pitting sections against each other and with each other, choosing a mixture of instruments that freely crisscross lines delineating between classical and modern. The production is high on reverberation, giving it a ‘live’ texture.
“We Hope The Weather Will Continue” is aggressive minimalism, as Fox’s drums are relentless in confronting the vibes, flutes and violins in 7/8 time. A circular pattern plods through in a cinematic fashion throughout “Ninths” but with occasional minor bursts of tension release.
“A Falling Tear” runs less than two minutes, with Laura Lutzke’s violin sounding like a lonely voice in a sonic wilderness. That segues right into “Never Can It Be,” which emerges from the haze to launch a march that accompanies a soupy mix of vibes, a tinkling piano, a synth pulse and other instruments, unexpectedly decelerating to its ending.
“Blush” rises from the ashes of the short segues “Dust Suspended” and “Egac Of Egamoh” and although a groove gets established, it’s hard to shake the spooky wordless vocals from way in the back of the mix.
The remaining two tracks take up the final twenty-eight minutes of the album. The rhythm is tapped out on “Chandra,” a pulse that stays constant as other instruments nudge their way into the picture, each adding a small facet to the motif that adds up to a more intricate mosaic of swirling strings around a modern backdrop. “Kindness” is the most minimalist track on this album, a simple repeating figure sketched out on piano in a shimmering sonority while a synth drone and a faraway vocal slowly comes into focus before a buildup into the sound of an airliner’s jet engines revving up brings a dramatic finish to the record.
Nous III is due out May 29, 2020 from Christopher Bono’s own label Our Silent Canvas. Pre-Order Nous III from Bandcamp.
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