To Feel Embraced

Los Angeles-based engineer Preston Wendel began working with ambient composer William Basinski as a studio assistant in 2015, and the two soon started collaborating on original material. While Basinski is best known for lengthy, elegiac meditations which tap into a particular stream of graceful melancholia, his interviews reveal his personality as being flamboyant and jocular. The duos debut album as Sparkle Division is much more in line with these characteristics, from the sassy track titles to its bright, glamorous cover art, paying tribute to Brooklyn local celebrity Leonora Russo, who was referred to as the Queen of Williamsburg. The albums sound is a Brainfeeder-like melange of cosmic jazz, crumpled hip-hop beats, and atmospheric textures, flowing from brassy lounge cut-ups to blunted psychedelic funk. For these sessions, Basinski dusted off his saxophone, which hes been playing since high school and once performed while opening for David Bowie as a member of rockabilly revivalists the Rockats. While hes incorporated saxophone into some of his pieces, including the Bowie requiem For David Robert Jones, his playing has never sounded as seedy or skronky on his own records as it does here, particularly on tracks like the street-lit trudge of Oh No You Did Not! or the tripped-out downtempo bop of You Aint Takin My Man. His saxophone dreamily floats atop the sweeping disco strings and broken beats of the gorgeous, starry For Gato, and billows over the shuffling footwork rhythm of Oh Henry!, which features sticky upright bass and ethereal violin playing by free jazz legend Henry Grimes. Russo pops up, most likely over the phone, on the interlude Queenie Got Her Blues, which seems to digitally mimic the content and fidelity of a scratchy old 78. To Feel and Sparkle on Sad Sister Mother Queen come closest to the decaying ambience of Basinskis solo work, but they still sound more blissful and unburdened than funereal. The album was largely recorded in 2016 but not released until 2020, after Russo and Grimes had passed on; additionally, Bowie gets a nod in the form of the misty reflection To the Stars, Major Tom. Yet the album is celebratory rather than mournful, channeling the positive, creative energy of these spirits and honoring the fleeting miracle of life. ~ Paul Simpson

実験的アンビエント作品で知られるウィリアム・バシンスキーがアシスタントでもあるプレストン・ウェンデルと結成したユニットがこのスパークル・ディヴィジョン。元々クラリネットやサックスの教育を受けた下地もあり、今作でも披露しているが、それがサンプリングされたジャズアンサンブルで組んだようなビートの上で鳴らされる、そのフェイク感とジャケット(写真の女性は2020年亡くなったブルックリンで愛されたセレブ、レオノーラ・ルッソ)もあいまってかなりサイケデリック。同じく2020年鬼籍に入ったヘンリー・グライムスとの共演曲も収録。不穏だけどご機嫌、ストレンジでダンサブルな作品だ。
intoxicate (C)片切真吾