Finding Ways

We last heard from drummer/composer Sebastian Rochford under his own name on 2023s A Short Diary with pianist/keyboardist Kit Downes on ECM. Finding Ways is both the title of this brief album (less than 25 minutes) and the name for Rochfords band. His goal was to create an original music that explores the sonic, rhythmic, textural, and harmonic possibilities of layered pedal and effectless guitars. Rochford and bassist Anders Christensen are joined by seven guitarists. David Preston and Tara Cunningham appear on most of the record, but the contributors list includes Simon Tong, Leo Abrahams, Adrian Utley, John Parish, Matt Hurley, Seye Adelekan, and Goller playing bass on one track. These tunes are all based in rock riffs and rhythms. Theyre often jagged and quirky, interlocking knotty guitar patterns amid the rhythmic invention. Each track segues into the next as guitarists rotate. Opener "Maybe" stacks Cunningham, Preston, and Hurley. Atop a chorded riff, Preston channels the improv blues chops of Nels Cline and Billy Jenkins. Hurley adds contrapuntal chord voicings as a 12-string bridges them and takes the last solo -- its modal melody recalls Ralph Towner of Oregon. "Being Outside" has the same players offering an electric rock riff over clattering kitwork while frenetic twinned instruments careen through the skeletons of fado, flamenco, and blues. "Whos Your Person" has an anthemic quality; Gorillazs bassist Seye Adelekan plays an acoustic guitar here, strumming with power and force as Cunningham and Preston engage in spirited call-and-response interplay; Rochford and Christensen add dynamics, drama, and tension while prodding them on. "Ashley" finds the guitarists seeking a way to bend the time signature. They enter more fully into lyric harmony with contrasting solos and shard-like chord progressions amid the incessant rhythmic invention of double-timed bass and drums. On "Keeping the Love Alive Again," Rochford and Goller deliver a swaggering, hard rock vamp. Abrahams joins Cunningham in canny, intensely sharp, lyrical guitar interplay. Arguably the sets most intimate and sensitive track, "ComMUnity" joins funky soul-jazz to mutant Afrobeat. Preston returns and reveals near symbiotic communication with Cunningham. Rochford plays around the outside, allowing their painterly melodies space, light, and groove. "What You Hold in Your Heart" finds Cunningham paired with Simon Tong. The vamp is a simple two-chord pattern that Rochford accents rather than drives. Thats left to the bassist. The minor-chord vamp channels surf music, Peter Greens "Slabo Day," and the cool collectedness of Nigerian guitar music. The guitarists instinctively come together with seamless lyric technique. What makes Finding Ways so completely compelling is the way Rochford and company constructed a music that relies on innate lyricism, rhythmic elasticity, and space. It delivers cooperative generosity from its players. The record is initially arresting for its clean sound, front loaded production, and accessible tunes; it becomes truly compelling when one adds in the communicative intimacy and creative instinct in the execution of this music. ~ Thom Jurek