Environments

In a way, Rafiq Bhatias improvisational second album for Anti- is an extension of his interpretive work. The musician paid tribute to Flying Lotus and Sam Cooke in 2012 with versions that bore strong rhythmic and melodic likenesses to the originals. Crepuscular and turbulent 2020 renderings of classics by Duke Ellington, Ornette Coleman, and Ewan MacColl, as heard on Standards, Vol. 1, were more unorthodox, far less likely to be heard on a "coffee house vibes" playlist than in a dim bohemian cafe or den where scuffed copies of David Lynch soundtracks, Ambient 4: Isolationism, and Ben Frosts By the Throat are in rotation. With his guitar and laptop and other gear at his feet, Bhatia takes inspiration this time from the elements, but were not talking Earth, Wind & Fire. Throughout eight original pieces that flow together, Environments evokes terrestrial and aquatic spaces, cast in sunlight, storm clouds, and moonlight, that teem with life. Its a full return to guitar for Bhatia, who samples and processes his playing on the fly, suggesting everything from birdsong to cold rain to violent winds. His instrument occasionally sounds just like a guitar, churning balefully in multiple passages and swaying in a tranquil state in another. Bhatias collaborators are just as creative and expressive with their comparatively raw instrumentation. Acoustic and electronic percussion from Ian Chang, one of Bhatias mates in Son Lux -- the band behind the Academy Award-nominated score for Everything Everywhere All at Once -- rustles, judders, and shimmers, letting loose with eruptive force during the moment of greatest intensity. Westerlies trumpeter Riley Mulherkar, fresh from releasing his Bhatia-assisted debut as a leader, laces the set with unobtrusive valve flutters and squeals, and elongated notes that send slight shivers down the spine. He takes an elegant solo on "Clearing, Crickets" -- which could be extracted as a standalone ballad. The whole thing plays out with a studied intensity, the musicians in complete communion with one another and the planet. ~ Andy Kellman

ポスト・ロック集団のサン・ラックスにも籍を置くNYの前衛ジャズ・ギタリスト。ソロ3作目は雨や噴火など曲ごとにテーマを設け、即興で予測不能な自然現象を再現していく意欲作に。高度な技術や斬新な手法はさておき、何の知識もなく聴いても受け手に自然への畏怖の念を抱かせてしまう点が凄いです。既存の枠に捕らわれないスタンスは、ある意味で物凄くアンタイらしいかも。
bounce (C)山西絵美