Jazz has seen a multitude of unique interpretations for years, and 2012 alone has already shown promise, from the electronic embellishments of the Portico Quartet to the Robert Glasper Experiment's neo-soul infusion. Chicago Underground Duo fit this bill of jazz innovation as well and, like the two aforementioned outfits, have an execution of their own. Though having taken shape of a trio, quartet, and orchestra in the past, Age of Energy is their sixth album as a duo and their first for Northern Spy, which has lately defined itself as a go-to label for experimental rock, noise, jazz, and whatever happens to cross paths in between.
Members Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor blur the line between the avant-garde and jazz so well that the latter is rarely performed in an unequivocal manner. Taylor's ride-guided drumming is often the sole provision of jazz styling to the cornet and electronics. The 20-minute "Winds Sweeping Pines" opens with pitch alteration of a sharp, sizzling drone that becomes a hodgepodge once an aharmonic synth sequence enters the fold. The muddle dissipates 5 minutes inward when Taylor's absorbed pacing accents the electronic pulse. This is only the first half, from which it undergoes a number of sporadic and less flustered phases.
Age of Energy's most melodic passage is "Castle In Your Heart", whose refrain is inspired by a traditional Shona song from Zimbabwe. Its plush mbira arrangement is gentle in and of itself, but the complementing cornet and intimate percussion render the song absolutely saccharine. Contrary to the beauty is the title track, a freeform spate of sweltering manipulations, complicated patterns, and overall tense interplay. The closing "Moon Debris" is an even brisker orchestration that follows a nimble keyboard loop. Mazurek and Taylor do more than merely apply their influences to a modern context; well aged concepts are welded to perceptive experimentalism, and with that inseparable bond Age of Energy could garner an audience outlying either circle.
[Stream/Buy Age of Energy from Northern Spy Records]
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