In English, this song is in your face! It is succinct and urgent and leaves the listener slightly shell-shocked but prepared for what is yet to come. Like other songs on this collection, it does not fall into the standard "drums play fast licks while sax screeches and cellist burns cello" format. Indeed there are elements of that present, but it does not beat you over the head with it as many other improvising ensembles tend to do. Shoup has a masterful command of his instrument, just as Arnold and Pias do.
Points. Punches... accents. Interchange. Slow build into more sound. Busy. Time... free swing. Sheets of sound cascading high to low...... The nice thing about this ensemble is their ability to listen. Chiaroscuro lines from each instrument meld in oblique patterns, instigated by Shoup's percussive sax lines. As a unit they build into a quasi-"free jazz" swing, but without the overdone quality you so often hear in this type of passage. Pias is an amazingly sensitive and tasteful drummer!
Toms... tribal. Drones. Altissimo multiphonics screaming! Cello and sax fight for the same harmonic space. Talking drums. A hint of distorted melody, Mimic, propelled by drums. noise..... This piece has a consistent rhythmic element that propels the imrpovisation forward. As a result, it adopts an "almost-composed" feeling. Placing a more "accessible" song early in the collection helps those who are new to this kind of music by giving them something to hold on to. Artists who are interested in "spreading the word" and bringing new people into the fold should learn from this example.
Track 4 starts somewhat tentatively with some interesting slap toungue and double-tounging juxtaposed against Arnolds wandering cello lines. The communication between Arnold and Shoup is interesting and at times it seems Arnold falls into patterns and looks to Shoup to pull away from them, which he inevitably does.
"The Stool Pigeon" may be my favorite track on the CD. Here Arnold plays his cello like an upright bass and Pias swings furiously while Shoup shoots cannonballs of multiphonics, double-tounging and harmonic sweeps off the port bow. This sounds a lot like downtown New York sound but played with a certain irreverance that I enjoy.
In the first quiet, contemplative moments of the CD, track 6 offers some very nice textures. Shoup alludes to a softer side by gently tapping out subtones and high multiphonics. The texture of the form slowly builds to include more percussive elements and some less-gingerly handled technique. Shoup's combination of slap tongue and multiphonics is a great sound. This song poignantly proves that free jazz improvisation does not always need to be fast, loud and noisy to be effective.
"Dust Crops" is another more introspective piece. Flutter-tounging combined with multiphonics and altissimo set against cello harmonics provide a majority of the texture here. Simmering in the background, Pias provides some great hi-hat/snare work. My favorite part of this particular cut is where Shoup throws out all the texture that came before it and belts out a single, high note. It's this unpredictability that makes Project W such a great unit.
Melody is often a missing component in improvisation. This piece (Strange Attractors) has many sections where melodies tenuously creep in, which is a welcome introduction. Textures here are talus and scree-like with large chunks of sound falling from above pulverizing smaller bits below.
Track 9, String Driven, is exactly as the title states. Arnold leads the improvisation by providing interesting tonal and non-tonal fragments skewered periodically by Shoup's pungent sax lines.
Variety in sound is a constant challenge for an improvising group. Since nothing is planned, cheap emotional tricks like soaring melodies and rhythmic ostinato that give most popular music its saccharin-sweet flavor, are noticeably absent. In this gap, a cement of iron-clad technique and ferocious listening skills must be poured. This particular cut is the longest on the CD and I raise this issue because keeping the texture varied for 8 straight minutes is a challenge even for composed music. The group does a splendid job, although for my taste, I would have liked to have seen the ending sounds expanded upon, and maybe worked into the earlier parts of the improvisation.
The last track is a coda of sorts. Short and sweet, Shoup bids a farewell and promises to return again. And given the quality of the music and the musicians who create it, I'm sure that will be true.
This is CD is available from Apraxia, PO Box 85155, Seattle, WA 98145