Featuring:
XAVI REIJA
drums
TONY LEVIN
bass guitar, upright bas, stick
DUSAN
JEVTOVIC guitar
MARKUS
REUTER touch guitar
The Sound Of
The Earth Notes by Dan Burke:
First heard
on Xavi and Dusan’s inspired 2014 album, “Random Abstract” by XaDu, “Deep
Ocean” starts things off with a fanfare of muscular guitar and cymbals crashing
like waves on the rocky coast, carving out the beach and unearthing a primal
groove with growling bass and jittering spectral figures. “The Sound of the
Earth I” brings to mind David Sylvian’s post-Japan near ambient instrumental
excursions where space and pause became as integral to the “composition as
place” as his trusty Prophet 5. Once this world is created, and with a
decidedly Beckian vibe (Jeff, that is), Dusan wrings from the neck of his
guitar, some of the most emotive broken phrases and edited soulful voicings.
“From
Darkness” finds Tony’s minimalist bass pulse in 5/8 with snare/kick serving as
the groundwork for Dusan and Markus’ spiraling moebius strip guitar riffery.
There is a slightly frenzied insistence to this track which serves as a great
counterpoint to the more atmospheric work.
Leading off
with playful skipping brushwork and a rich and supple Levin bass groove, then
painted with Reuter’s ominous stained and weathered guitar tones, “The Sound of
the Earth II” is a dark canvas of shifting clouds of color. Dusan’s skittery
clipped chords and abbreviated lead lines bring necessary tension for the fluid
guitar phrasings which seem to erupt and then run down the face of this 12
minute tone painting. “Serenity” is an inspired atmospheric piece which
features an abstracted melodic lead buoyed by an insistent tamboura-like
repeated wavering note. There is enough creativity and inspiration in this one
track to feed a whole album’s worth of music.
Beginning
with a deep space Curtis Mayfield vibe, “The Sound of the Earth III” unfolds
slowly with a practiced teasing restraint that allows the music to bloom
naturally. “Lovely Place” finds the notes of Dusan’s guitar projected, like
light, into a prism and coming back as a myriad of shimmering colors. Reuter’s
stellar fluid guitar solo has a heroic and almost “Hotel California” build and
break before returning to Dusan’s delicate finger work.
At nearly 17
minutes long, “The Sound of the Earth IV” would feel right at home on side 3 of
a double Kosmiche Musik LP from 1969. This is heady stuff with lots of room for
some really spirited interplay. Markus inspires this kind of creativity with
his willingness to step way outside of the comfort zone. The musicians feel as
though they’ve played together for years. In “Take a Walk” Dusan knits a lean triplet
argeggiated guitar riff into a tight braid to give structure while a swaggering
monster groove builds and builds, all the while tugging mercilessly at the yarn
of his guitar until it temporarily unravels into a series of more tentative
notes and slightly bent chords.
You can feel
the room in this recording and, by that, I mean you can sense both the physical
space and the emotional space between these four gifted players. There is a
level of trust and comfort here that puts the listener at ease and ready to
take the ride. Band leader and Catalan drummer, Xavi Reija and Serbian-born
guitarist Dusan Jevtovic have worked together on numerous projects these past
few years and have become an intuitive musical unit. Born in Boston, Tony
Levin, with his impeccable pedigree from Herbie Mann and Chuck Mangione to
Peter Gabriel and King Crimson as well as his own 10- year ongoing project
Stick Men, along with fellow Stick Men, Crimson ProjeKCt and Centrozoon member
German-born Markus Reuter, have likewise developed a common language
communicating through music.
Such
heartfelt and enthusiastic playing is in short supply these days. This is not
music pigeon-holed for easy consumption, rather, it challenges and rewards more
and more with each listening. So put down your phone, lower the lights and
prepare to experience the gift of this inspired recording.
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