Arp shares new track from upcoming album on Mexican Summer
Arp
‘ENSEMBLE – LIVE!’
Vinyl / CD / download / stream
Mexican Summer
Released November 15thVinyl released December 6th
Stream ‘Kalimboid’ on Spotify Apple Music and YouTube Press shot
(credit Tim Saccenti for Setta Studio) Album artwork Pre-order A special one-off live studio album – featuring a five-piece ensemble performing music from Arp’s critically-acclaimed album ‘ZEBRA’ – plus four new compositions.
Last summer’s spellbinding album ‘ZEBRA’ struck a chord with many listeners. Combining innovative production with an interest in music from around the globe – fourth world, Japanese avant-garde, minimalism, kosmische, dub, cosmic jazz and more – ‘ZEBRA’ found Arp (aka Alexis Georgopoulos) firing on all cylinders, drawing comparisons to Don Cherry, Midori Takada, Jon Hassell and Alice Coltrane and ultimately, made the best case yet for the polymath he is. Critics said as much. The album featured in numerous Best of 2018 lists – The Guardian,
The Vinyl Factory, Aquarium Drunkard, Unseen Worlds, Dublab among them – and found him gaining esteemed DJ fans such as Hunee, Andrew Weatherall, Prins Thomas, Jiro (NTS) and Growing Bin’s Basso. Prompted by Mexican Summer to debut a new live group for the label’s 10 year anniversary at New York’s art space Pioneer Works in November 2018, Georgopoulos assembled a quintet including three of the players on ‘ZEBRA’. Inspired by what they heard emanating from the stage, the label asked if Georgopoulos would be interested in recording a “live in the studio” album – a snapshot of a group “in motion”. If ‘ZEBRA’, the first album made primarily in his new home studio, showed Georgopoulos blossoming as an arranger/producer, ‘ENSEMBLE – LIVE!’ emphasizes a different character – the sound of a group dynamic, of a vibe, of inspiration found in the moment – and how these songs work with 5 people playing them at the same time, together in a room. “The given definition of ‘ensemble’ tends to refer to a group of musicians performing together, but the etymology is more nuanced”, Georgopoulos explains. “In French, ‘ensemble’ means ‘together’. In Balinese, it translates to ‘gamelan’. It refers to a group viewed as a whole rather than individually.” If our historical moment is defined by broken lines of communication, of impasse, this music breathes life into the value of interaction.
Communication is at the center of this album. A belief in exchange, of the sum being greater than it’s parts. Of power in the collective. “I went into our first rehearsal not knowing how or if the group could play together, how electronic or how organic it would be. There were a lot of unknowns. But it was clear the first day we played together that there was something really tangible, an ease and a chemistry. Each player brings real expression to the table, so it made sense to let the music breathe – rather than create a facsimile of ‘ZEBRA’ – to let the songs take on their own life. Rather than over-orchestrate, I thought, let’s just put these guys in a room, give some direction, a compass arrow pointing in a direction, and just play music.”
That ease and openness are obvious from the first meditative tones of album opener ‘Eos’. The equivalent of a door opening (in Greek mythology, Eos is the Bringer of the Dawn), the airspace is wide open. Georgopoulos uses the piano to induce the listener into a kind of suspended consciousness, as the group falls in around him. David Lackner’s emotive wind playing speaking in turn. This music transmits. There are peaks and valleys here, lots of open space, and the light is shimmering. The ebullient ‘Nzuku’, a stand-out from ‘ZEBRA’, is given a faithful if expressive interpretation here, with the middle section reaching new heights. ‘Kalimboid’ follows and finds the group in fiery form. A minimoog sequence, evoking a kalimba, begins, reverbed hand percussion dancing and getting quite loose, before drums enter, well charged.
A horn motif enters before going into uncharted, heated terrain. Proof the group can not only create deep listening, but also propulsive music, on the edge of chaos. The resplendent ‘Reading A Wave’, another ‘ZEBRA’ standout, is the album’s centrepiece. Electric piano, bowed double bass and percussion – going through what amounts to a King Tubby’s worth of tape delay – sets the airy tone. In comparison with the album version, the cadence of the two-note bass cycle here is positively reclined. Lackner is on top form here, conjuring a magical meeting of Terry Riley and ‘In A Silent Way’-era Miles in the ECM studio, before Georgopoulos switches to a piano that seems to descend from a cracking summer sky with thunderous clouds on the brink. Truly transcendent stuff. ‘Voices’, one of the four new tracks written for this album, emphasizes the case that though ‘ENSEMBLE – LIVE!’ leans towards cosmic and exploratory jazz, there is more at work here. A kind of abstracted rainforest kosmische – evoking Finis Africae, one of Georgopoulos’ favorite groups – featuring harmonized flute shooting out atop a minimal Holger Czukay-like abstracted bassline, this is 4th World music par excellence. The final two tracks pivot towards the introspective. ‘Ozu’ the album’s most pensive and spacious piece, is given a moody interpretation. Closer ‘Autumn Piece (for Jiri Kovanda)’, as its title hints, leans toward the autumnal. Inspired by the likes of the Entourage Music and Theater Ensemble, and Basil Kirchin, a dreamlike tone pervades. You can sense something in the air. The wind carries a message. There is a new door to be opened. A new key to find. The artwork features Hexagram 64 from the I Ching (aka The Book of Changes), which Georgopoulos drew when he consulted the ancient divination text.
This symbol speaks to the idea of living with uncertainty, a knowledge that entropy makes us uncomfortable but, as the text says, “molecules moving inside of a box randomly are more dynamic than molecules locked in perfect order. Disorder increases energy and innovation. In Wei Chi, the situation is in a state of disorganization or chaos but order will inevitably return. Better yet, because of the disorganization or unknown aspects of the situation, you will probably achieve more than you had originally set out to do. Such is the way of nature that it uses uncertainty to test all possible outcomes.” Track-list:
- ‘Eos’ *
- ‘Nzuku’
- ‘Kalimboid’ *
- ‘Reading A Wave’
- ‘Voices’ *
- ‘Ozu’
- ‘Sharps’ *
- ‘Autumn Piece’ (for Jiri Kovanda)
* = new tracks The Musicians: Alexis Georgopoulos: Minimoog, Tingklik, Marimba, Piano, HarmonizerBenjamin Campbell: Double Bass, Electric BassDavid Lackner: EWI, Flute, Saxophone, Electric PianoJohn Thayer: Percussion, EffectsTJ Maiani: Drums The Critics on ‘ZEBRA’: “It is truly cosmic music, that defies categorization.” The Guardian, Contemporary Album of the Month, ★★★★ “Fourth World dreamscapes, Japanese environmental ambience wiggy cosmic riffs. Alexis Georgopoulos’ finest work to date.” The Vinyl Factory, Best Vinyl Releases This Week “A pulsing, eclectic, wonderfully breezy album of ethereal psychedelia, suggesting an attempt to time-travel back to the terrace of Ibiza’s Amnesia discotheque circa 1984, when ECM and krautrock fell into rotation alongside records by Grace Jones and Wally Badarou.” Pitchfork “When a new Arp record pops up in the shop, you’re never sure what you’re going to get. Whatever it is, though, will be in preternaturally good taste.” Resident Advisor “A landmark on his musical journey.” Ban Ban Ton Ton