Thollem / Oliveros / Cline Molecular Affinity, New Fries More
Thollem / Oliveros / Cline
Molecular Affinity
(Roaratorio)
The composer, electronic musician and accordionist Pauline Oliveros, who passed away last November, was perhaps best known for her “Deep Listening” practice and aesthetic—encompassing improvisation, healing, meditation and other aspects—which encouraged performers to focus not only on the qualities of music but also on everything surrounding it, such as the environment itself and ambient noises.
Listening is not mere passiveness—it’s what should happen before action, and as Oliveros pointed out, “Listening is directing attention to what is heard, gathering meaning, interpreting and deciding on action.”
These ideas come to mind when absorbing the enthralling album Molecular Affinity, featuring Oliveros on accordion with the breathtakingly nimble improviser and keyboardist Thollem McDonas and electric guitarist Nels Cline, known for his diverse avant-jazz and multi-genre work in addition to being a member of the group Wilco.
Throughout most of the album, it’s like the trio has a psychic mind-meld, where complex moods are shared with quick, almost instinctual reactions. Group improvisation can be pithily described as a give-and-take situation to different degrees; certain strains of modern improvisation involve the musicians minimally influencing each other to the point where they seem like they are ignoring each other, but the opposite is heard on Molecular Affinity.
Is it apparent that there is constant, thoughtful listening here, with the players seemingly asking themselves the question, “How can I complement the mood while shining a light on a different facet?”
The album is split into two long pieces, “In Particular” and “Outside Accord,” and the first side erupts with a chaotic vibe and determined scampering pointed in the same general direction; there’s a sense of cooperation and attentive reaction without imitation, although a few moments show a dramatic synthesis, like one stirring passage in “In Particular” where Thollem violently beats out notes with Cline mirroring the rhythm.
Later in the piece, Oliveros’ accordion notes resemble deliberate human breaths, while vocal outbursts puncture the air with half-man, half-dog barks. “Outside Accord” offers an eerie amalgam, using a bewildering array of different keyboard instrument sounds and unconventional guitar notes, while Oliveros’ low, measured accordion tones have timbres that could be mistaken for brass, woodwinds or strings.
As demonstrated on the agitated, inspiring and mystifying Molecular Affinity, being a good listener doesn’t mean being quiescent and yielding.
New Fries
More
(Telephone Explosion)
The Toronto quartet New Fries, made up of both musicians and non-musicians (visual and performance artists), is honest about certain members lacking formal musical training.
“For us it’s always new and also terrifying and super-vulnerable because we don’t really know what we’re doing,” said vocalist Anni Spadafora in an interview with Noisey. “We feed off that in really big ways. It’s less about the sound and more about the spirit.”
However, from the sound of the group’s music, its members obviously know a thing or two about post-punk and no-wave, but it also seems to have an aim to perturb, injecting charged moments and unexpected transitions into its music, to resist duplication of the past.
The new mini-album More, released on 10-inch vinyl and as a digital download, at times channels the dance-punk vibe of groups like Bush Tetras and Public Image Ltd. (on Metal Box), but it has several individualistic features that shape its own personality. One prominent element is the bass, which often uses discordant intervals that are just shy of reaching an octave, to provide some off-center post-punk grooves.
The opening track “Jz III,” perhaps continuing where previous tracks “Jazz” and “Jasz” (from the group’s 2015 split 7-inch with Old & Weird) left off, uses damaged electronics, primitive thumps from drummer Jenny Gitman, a funk-inflected bass line and feverish vocals from Spadafora that suggest the spirit of Ari Up or Lydia Lunch.
Spadafora mixes things up, going from a bratty monotonic chant on “Gertrude Stein Greeting Card from Pape/Danforth” with random flutters, to squeaky skittishness on “Butter & Spice Breeze-Y.”
After an atmospheric intro, “90 Year Old Girl” slams a new-wave momentum with electronic boops and injects gleeful riotous outbursts, and “Mary Poppins Pockets” is another highlight, with disorienting rhythms and dissonant electric guitar interplay.
More conveys a messy joy with the satisfaction of assembling some semblance of order from disorder.