The Nels Cline Singers - "Squirrel Of God" (mp3)
It's hard for me to listen to the Nels Cline Singers without comparing them to the outfit that they, for all intents and purposes, supplanted as Cline's main outlet as a composer and bandleader, the Nels Cline Trio. Cline started releasing records with his Trio in 1991, when he was still primarily known, to the extent that he was known at all, as a jazz guitarist, and probably had something to prove as far as showing his range and interest in music other than jazz. But by the time he formed the Singers a decade later, he'd appeared on a dozen major label alt-rock albums, as well as countless jazz/improv passion projects, and probably felt comfortable going anywhere in between with his new touring outfit. So while the Singers cover a lot of ground stylistically, they never quite hit the spazzy power trio sweet spot that NCT releases like Ground (which I own in triple 7" format!) used to hit for me.
The Singers' recent third album, Draw Breath, stays in a pensive, minimalist gear a little more often than their previous albums, and never gets close to the old Trio's attack, but it's not exactly sedate easy listening. "The Angel of Angels" and "Recognize I" have some really pretty acoustic (I think 12-string) guitar from Nels, further ratcheting up my interest in the all-acoustic solo project he's talked about doing on and off for years. But outside of those songs, whenever Scott Amendola isn't playing drums or percussion, he's playing 'live' electronics/effects, often with jarring synthetic textures that are pretty uncommon to hear in the context of a Nels Cline project. The 14-minute "Mixed Message" features one of the album's only snaky, stuttering start-stop melodies that Nels is so well known for, and after a long, quiet mid-section with some especially squelchy electronics, ramps up into a pretty bitching rock section.
Compared to the other albums Nels has played on this year, I'd put the Singers somewhere between the Eleni Mandell album and Downpour. But then, I haven't heard the Wilco album, and probably won't, considering that my limited listening experiences with that band in the past haven't been pleasant. But Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche (who I guess was more of a Jim O'Rourke associate before joining that band anyway) does guest on one of my favorite songs on Draw Breath, the awesomely titled "Squirrel Of God," adding some glockenspiel and mallet percussion. The way the 8-minute track closes the album, particularly in its last minute or two, is so unexpected and gorgeous that I feel like describing it would almost be a spoiler, so I won't, because you can just listen to it.
It's hard for me to listen to the Nels Cline Singers without comparing them to the outfit that they, for all intents and purposes, supplanted as Cline's main outlet as a composer and bandleader, the Nels Cline Trio. Cline started releasing records with his Trio in 1991, when he was still primarily known, to the extent that he was known at all, as a jazz guitarist, and probably had something to prove as far as showing his range and interest in music other than jazz. But by the time he formed the Singers a decade later, he'd appeared on a dozen major label alt-rock albums, as well as countless jazz/improv passion projects, and probably felt comfortable going anywhere in between with his new touring outfit. So while the Singers cover a lot of ground stylistically, they never quite hit the spazzy power trio sweet spot that NCT releases like Ground (which I own in triple 7" format!) used to hit for me.
The Singers' recent third album, Draw Breath, stays in a pensive, minimalist gear a little more often than their previous albums, and never gets close to the old Trio's attack, but it's not exactly sedate easy listening. "The Angel of Angels" and "Recognize I" have some really pretty acoustic (I think 12-string) guitar from Nels, further ratcheting up my interest in the all-acoustic solo project he's talked about doing on and off for years. But outside of those songs, whenever Scott Amendola isn't playing drums or percussion, he's playing 'live' electronics/effects, often with jarring synthetic textures that are pretty uncommon to hear in the context of a Nels Cline project. The 14-minute "Mixed Message" features one of the album's only snaky, stuttering start-stop melodies that Nels is so well known for, and after a long, quiet mid-section with some especially squelchy electronics, ramps up into a pretty bitching rock section.
Compared to the other albums Nels has played on this year, I'd put the Singers somewhere between the Eleni Mandell album and Downpour. But then, I haven't heard the Wilco album, and probably won't, considering that my limited listening experiences with that band in the past haven't been pleasant. But Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche (who I guess was more of a Jim O'Rourke associate before joining that band anyway) does guest on one of my favorite songs on Draw Breath, the awesomely titled "Squirrel Of God," adding some glockenspiel and mallet percussion. The way the 8-minute track closes the album, particularly in its last minute or two, is so unexpected and gorgeous that I feel like describing it would almost be a spoiler, so I won't, because you can just listen to it.
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