feature photo: Alessandra Santucci
Percussionist Dylan Ryan made some waves about a decade back, heading up a guitar/bass/drums trio called Dylan Ryan Sand with Devin Hoff and Timothy Young. We covered both of his releases, and his discerningly loose yet concise approach to fusion was welcome in this space.
Ryan has come back into our view as he’s made another instrumental trio record after a long layover, but this one’s different, starting with the personnel: cellist and bassist Heather McIntosh, an old colleague who’s become a very prolific film composer and guitarist Devin Ryan, a member of Opera Southwest and the Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra. He’s also Dylan’s brother.
Credited to all three of them, Light From a Curious Sky (ears&eyes Records) was conceived and recorded at a New Mexico mountainside, and it gives off that laid-back vibe you get when soaking in the serene, majestic scenery of the high country. Solos are almost non-existent in favor of textures and group interconnectedness, less of a jazz album and closer to New Age, ambient and post-rock.
No song lingers for even three-and-a-half minutes among this collection of precise statements, and each of these statements are distinctive in their song construction and arrangements.
For “Amid, Imbued” – premiering in the video above – the three establish the groove first and McIntosh then supplements her bass with the lead melodic lines from her cello combined with viola coming from Marta Sofia Honer. Devin Ryan’s acoustic guitar takes on a Ralph Towner role and Dylan Ryan demonstrates what a sneaky good drummer he is, alternating between 6/8 and 7/8 rhythm without causing so much as a ripple.
Light From a Curious Sky is slated for release on August 18, 2023, in cassette and digital forms.
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- Five Moments From the Unlucky ‘Chicago 13’ That Weren’t Completely Terrible - August 14, 2024
