Sound & Fury - Pulsacion (Ektro, 2013)
Personnel:
Jorma Tapio: alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute
Pepa Päivinen: soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, flute
Tane Kannisto: tenor saxophone, flute
Matti Riikonen: trumpet
Julius Heikkilä: guitar
Jimi Sumén: guitar
Sampo Lassila: bass
Ilmari Heikinheimo: drums
Composed By –
Edward Vesala
Tracklisting:
01 - Lamgonella Lomboo
02 - I Tell You a Story
03 - Siamese Twins
04 - Pulsacion
05 - Nattuggla
06 - Punk
07 - Shadows
For a little more than a decade before his untimely death in 1999,
legendary Finnish drummer
Edward Vesala led a group called
Sound &
Fury, which released several albums on ECM records. Largely outside of
international view, the band has continued on after his death, and now
returns as invigorated as ever with Pulsacion, what appears to be their
first album since Nordic Gallery in 1995. Still, Pulsacion remains
somewhat of a hidden gem—Ektro Records, the label run by prolific Circle
bassist
Jussi Lehtisalo, is known more for metal and experimental rock
releases than avant-garde ensemble jazz.
Sound & Fury still contains five members from the group’s
heyday—hornsmen
Jorma Tapio,
Pepa Päivinen,
Jouni Kannisto,
Matti
Riikonen and guitarist
Jimi Sumén—all of whom have been present since
1989’s Ode to the Death of Jazz. Added to this core is an all new rhythm
section and an additional guitar. Tellingly, it takes two
percussionists to fill the void left by Vesala, both of whom do an
admirable job infusing these tunes with the bursting passion Vesala
seemed to bring to everything he did. With Pulsacion, the band turns to
previously unreleased compositions, here expertly arranged by Vesala’s
wife, Iro Haarla.
Opener “
Lamgonella Lomboo” gives an idea of the bright, expansive
sound of the group, which immediately calls to mind both the open
spaces of
Nan Madol and the more forceful, adventurous albums of the
late 80s and early 90s. It all sounds like standard Vesala fare—complex
arrangements of ghostly melodies that swirl over a seething swarm of
drums—until halfway through, when the guitar is suddenly thrust to the
forefront. Long, reverb-soaked lines cut across the rest of the band,
almost perpendicular to those used to sketch out the song’s framework.
It calls to mind Sumén’s angular work on “Somnamblues” from Invisible
Storm, but also feels like a daring step forward.
“
I Tell You A Story” has some utterly gorgeous sax tones, the
whole thing a shimmering, laid-back tropical cruise that feels so
familiar. I’m still trying to fully place it—sometimes jaunty, Very Very
Circus-era
Henry Threadgill comes to mind.
Later on, the title track takes a turn toward the intense. It teeters on
an unsteady rhythmic base, with complex, jabbing horn motifs that build
to the disorienting, shrieking cacophony of your life flashing before
your eyes. But if “
Pulsacion” represents the confusion of dying, “
Nattuggla”
is like finally ascending to that higher place: a dream of flutes and
ringing guitar arpeggios that’s settled around a beautiful bass-driven
centerpiece.
If there’s anything here that’s less than convincing, it’s portions of the brief “
Punk”,
which veer a little too close
Zorn-style big band parody. The track has
an energy that can’t be faulted, however, and it rushes into closing
track “Shadows”, a much more satisfying piece that meanders through a
loosely-knit counterpoint of horns and guitar noise.
It’s heartening to see Vesala’s long-time bandmates keeping his music
alive. I’d like to think Pulsacion wouldn’t sound any different if it
still was Vesala behind the kit. It’s certainly a welcome addition to
Vesala’s canon, and an impressive accomplishment for a group that still
lives and breathes these compositions.
A great late-year surprise.[
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