The advance press for Convulsionaries, the new tape by the Brandon Seabrook Trio (out September 21 on Astral Spirits), uses words like “idiosyncratic,” “revolutionary,” “international acclaim,” and “sui generis” to describe the level of talent gathered on record. Now I’m not one to slam on the hyperbole gas pedal* till the hype train smashes head on into an embankment, but I like the odds that these words will mean something as I dig in here. After all, we’re talking about a guitar-bass-cello trio, so we’re certainly in “unique” territory.
As Seabrook’s opening flashes of guitar on album opener “Bovicidal” are met by Henry Fraser’s bass and Daniel Levin’s cello (I wasn’t kidding), it takes a second for the ear to adjust to the seeming chaos, but that quickly passes. It’s like the pieces of the world’s most jagged 3D jigsaw puzzle are fitting themselves together at a rate so rapid that you can’t even tell if they’re in the right place — but heck, it still FEELS right. This is only in the minute or two before the players stretch out in orchestral ambience, like they’re all still tuning themselves to one another before a Carnegie Hall performance, but of course the mood is so fully formed that you realize the performance is actually already happening.
Time, reality shifting? Hardly. You’re just listening to music.
Another fidgety sprint and we’re spent. Levin saws us into the void, and we’re left with the lingering questions of what it means to actually BE “bovicidal”:
That’ll do it, I guess.
Check out “Bovicidal” below, and get your preorders in for Convulsionaries! It justifies a lot of those words mentioned above.
*Here’s the real question: do trains have gas pedals, or are they still steam operated?
More about: Brandon Seabrook, Daniel Levin, Henry Fraser
