Both as a solo artist and as the rhythmic imagineer powering such distinctive ensembles as Liturgy, EX EYE, Guardian Alien, Zs, and more, New York-based, “post-Free Jazz” percussionist Greg Fox is all-too-familiar with the concept of music as “gradual progression.” So it’s only fitting that his just-announced second proper solo album for RVNG intl. is called…The Gradual Progression. Out September 8 both physically and digitally, Fox’s latest seven-song mission statement is being called “an exploration of selfhood” that employs “new methods of externalizing his polyrhythmic virtuosity into non-physical realms” and which “signals both a reconciliation of disparate musical ventures and a new nirvanic stage in the artist’s oeuvre.”
More concretely, the manifestation and subsequent transfer of these energies is achieved “through responsive environments tethered to various aspects of the performance” (e.g. sensors attached to Fox’s drum kit trigger various virtual instruments invented for each piece, creating new and inventive tonal pallets which Fox then “communes-with” as each piece progresses). To achieve this wild-but-controlled sonic synergy, Fox employs hefty doses of Sensory Percussion, a software system which captures drum vibrations and analyses those signals, allowing performers to map their playing to various electronic controls. Fox himself describes this tactile approach as being akin to “sensing the emotionality and physicality of the world with the senses and through mental processes — about touching the walls of a pitch black room.” (And, speaking of the physical world, The Gradual Progression also includes contributions from fellow HUMAN musicians Curtis Santiago, Michael Beharie, Maria Kim Grand, and Justin Frye — each of whom lends not only a unique instrument to the mix, but a unique energy as well.)
But enough of this tantalizing talk about polyrhythmic virtuosity and energy-transfer between physical and non-physical realms; time to actually hear all these incredible technical, intra- and inter-personal concepts IN-ACTION. To do so, check out the video for album track “Catching an L” down below. The clip’s footage was shot by Fox and “re-purposed” by Sunshine Soup co-director Johann Rashid, and the track’s restless, morphing, funk-jazz pulse will have you nodding your head and sympathetically tapping your pre-ordering finger in no time.
The Gradual Progression tracklisting:
01. The Gradual Progression
02. Earth Center Possessing Stream
03. By Virtue of Emptiness
04. Catching an L
05. My House of Equalizing Predecessors
06. OPB
07. Preponderance of the Small (Bonus Track)
More about: Greg Fox