The Betrayal＜限定盤/Pink Marble Colored Vinyl＞

Betrayal is the third album from Enemy, an avant trio composed of pianist/organist Kit Downes, bassist Petter Eldh, and veteran drummer James Maddren. Their eponymous debut appeared from Edition in 2018 and took the British jazz world by storm for its interlocking harmonies and rhythms. Vermillion was issued by ECM in 2022 and credited to the trios members individually. It was celebrated for its compelling procedural in 21st century chamber jazz. Betrayal, issued by WeJazz, does provide ghost traces of the musical terrain explored on earlier recordings, but for several reasons this is an entirely different method of recording: it showcases drama and eclectic lyricism in advanced musical strategies. These 12 works were alternately composed by Downes and Eldh, and recorded, remarkably, in a single day. The set was edited, produced, and mixed by the trio as well. It couldnt sound more different from Vermillion. While the earlier album bore the distinct ECM signature of a sparse mix, silence, lush reverb, and echo, this is a complex collision of rhythm and harmony, with contrasting elements put into service to create a new musical vocabulary. The breaking snare intro on opener "Croydon Smash" is introduced by Eldhs upright bass playing plectrum chords in duet with Maddren. When Downes enters, his playing is notated organically with clipped, blocky, chordal vamps that dont expose a melodic component but a harmonically rhythmic theme. "Hollywood Bypass" weaves snatches of classic film themes and lullabies using serial harmonic exploration around a pulsing snare and hi-hat colored by Eldhs deftly placed basslines. Downes threads in a canny solo, bridging various lyric themes and transcending them. "Sun" weds a scorching bop motif played by Eldh and Maddren under Downes complex improvising. While seeking to complete the statement the rhythm section articulates, he turns it inside-out, revealing another harmonic idea thats just coming to him. "Morfar Sixten" showcases the trios sensitive side. The fluid intensity of bass and drums in this midtempo ballad creates a rather large tonal palette. Downes intuitive playing embraces the encountered harmony just before subverting it and creating something far more intricate in its exposition. "Fiend" is the sets hinge track. Its lyricism is sublime as interlocking vamps ratchet up the intensity before evolving very gradually into a nearly pastoral electronic drone; Downes underscores it all with a frenetic bop solo. "Croydon Shuffle" references its earlier cousin expressionistically, with implied vamps and tonal themes in a pastoral direction, stretching the tunes time signature to the breaking point. Closer "Harmony of 3" deftly takes on post-bop harmony, rhythmic interplay, and acoustic dynamics in creating a dramatic whole. Piano and bass entwine with one another as Maddren blankets them in rhythmic invention. Enemys earlier outings offered compelling portraits of the trios abundant musicality. Betrayal, with furious creativity, offers poly-harmonic melodies, locked-in rhythms, floating dynamics, and textural tension. As an album, it illustrates the complexity, vision, and reward in Enemys unusual approach to the jazz piano trio. ~ Thom Jurek