Monolith Cocktail Blog

ALBUM REVIEW  WORDS: DOMINIC VALVONA

Modulus III  ‘ST’  February 2018

Laden with experience, each individual member of the Modulus III trio has a worthy CV of solo and ensemble work under their belts. It’s no surprise that the Bristol traversers of Steve Reichism, Krautrock/Kosmische, free and futurist jazz have picked up a few tricks in their expansive adventures and scored or collaborated on soundtracks for the film, TV and games industry.

An eclectic bunch of individuals, playing alongside such diverse artists as Anna Calvi, Adrian Utley of Portishead fame, and Will Gregory’s Moog Ensemble, the Modulus III lineup of multi-instrumentalists Dan Moore, Drew Morgan and drummer Matt Brown channel many of these previous explorations and more on their self-titled debut LP.

Obviously talented and trained – Drew is a former contemporary classical student of the Royal Academy Of Music in London and dab hand at drawing abstract vistas and sound effects from the cello – the trio’s multi-textural improvisations are meant o be read, partially, as a reaction against ‘virtuosity for virtuosity’s sake’. A problem in the jazz community especially, much of the contemporary scene features abundant skills and technical approach, but is bereft of sparking innovation and excitement: Competent yet far from interesting or fresh. And so this live performance, broken up into three tracks, recorded in the trio’s hometown, sounds at times free of aloof intentions and indecipherable musical language. The signposts are all there all right, from Sun Ra to Popol Vuh; from Bitches Brew and IOW Festival 70 Miles Davis to UFO era Guru Guru. And that rich smorgasbord of influences can all be detected and heard within the perimeters of the opening Waiting For The Network suite alone, without mentioning the album’s other two equally well-traveled improvisations.

The synthesized meets cello, Fender Rhodes and an articulate constantly moving drum patter on each of the album’s cleverly played and spontaneous evolving and ever-developing performances. Building from a primordial soup of whale song, Kosmische wilderness and prog-rock sci-fi, that opening fifteen-minute adventure takes a Donny McCaslin like trip towards the celestial before working the stop/start drum shuffles and probes into a cyclonic trip-hop rhythm. A stained-glass implosion Rhodes piano interplays with a cranked-up generator and brassy cymbal reverberations as the track takes shape and ends on a ‘close encounters of the third kind’ atmospheric like dissipating climax.

Shorter in length but no less dense with ideas, Diego Says Hello is a track full of anticipation, as the trio scuttle and poke at a Sun Ra procession across a Balkans/Central European soundscape. A similar length, Joyce could just as easily evoke the Outback as the deserts of the Middle East, on what is a free form jazz crosses Steve Reich avant-garde classical voyage into the unknown – the instruments move more like a mist. Slinking and fizzling, lamenting and mysterious, this final amorphous interplay receives a round-of-applause; until this moment, you could forget there was even an audience present; such seems the Modulus III concentration and serious atmosphere.

Immersed rather then flittering on the fringes of each inspiration, Modulus III navigates their myriad of inspirations and influences with aplomb. Strapped in, ready to lock into each other’s intuitive nature, it’s hard to deny that this cosmic adventure in improvisation would sound a mess, or mere appropriation without that virtuoso talent the trio want to break free from. However technical, and dense with intricate musicianship, it may be, this is a most brilliant, atmospheric and expletory of recordings. DV