7D Media 2024
Transatlantic trinity try to track down a threnody to turn back the tide of life – and succeed in stirring the listener’s soul.
It may seem easy to assume that experimental music cannot be romantic – for the simple reason of it sounding too cerebral to reflect affairs of the heart – yet there’s perfect logic in the contrary: just because affection always brings forth a fresh experience. But then, everything Pat Mastelotto, Markus Reuter and Trey Gunn have ever done – both separately and together – was filled with feelings, and though the trio’s joint debut "T-1 Contact Information" didn’t explicitly suggest so, and didn’t hint at humor either, their sophomore effort is set on remedying those sensual flaws by applying palpable human touch to these devil’s dozen cuts. As a result, smiles and disturbances are guaranteed for those adventurous enough to trip over a few lines.
To map out this trip one is advised to walk with the wise to the abstract figures of digital-only grand finale “The Way We Weren’t” or, better, to another faux-devilish thing, the Bermudan fusion of “Triangle Of Love” – the tritone-concealing instrumental ballad that features handclaps – something rarely heard on such opuses, a literal human touch – and that impeccably fits the little ensemble’s non-Euclidean world. Factor in the equally cinematic, if slightly menacing, “They Call Him Threnody” where Gunn and Reuter’s guitars weave twangy motifs and razor-sharp riffs around Mastelotto’s electronica-grazed groove and effects-graced spoken word, and the gauzy wonder of “I Put A Crush On You” where acoustic evocation of nature and electrified delivery complement each other in a magnificent way, and you can consider the milestone scheme of the combo’s voyage complete. Heading there without visiting the angular vista of “The Last Barbie Tango” which starts with turning cartwheels ‘cross the floor and proceeds to a sparse strings-vs-sticks jive, or exiting the sonic labyrinth without dwelling on the creepily stumbling mini-epic “Combat And Courtship” which lays thin synthetic strata over percussive passages, will disrupt the trio’s rapture of the journey per se.
Still, while a lot of surfaces get thunderously hit in “Six Inches Tall” that transforms Markus and Trey’s fretwork into stormy bluster, “The White Thing” offers crystalline strum and develops it into molten stripes for Pat’s contraptions to spice up with shifting rhythmic patterns, before “A Nightingale Sang In Our Tornado” piles up sinister, nightmare-inducing harmonies and contrasts them with a delicate acoustic melody running underneath this number’s robust veneer and the fragile chime of cymbals. Animal cries also infuse “In A Sacrificial Mood” that goes for a jungle atmosphere and tribal magic in order to render beats and licks genuinely mesmeric, yet “Attack Of The Puppet People” achieves a similar goal through industrial clang, and “You Returned For Me” through increasingly tuneful space-rock meanderings. So maybe “Cardboard Rendezvous” looms too technical, but there are quite a few folk-informed details to keep the audience arrested. Arrested – to be awed by symphonic scope of “Transistor Valentine” which introduces cathedral solemnity to the album’s flow.
Spiritually cathartic, “T2: For Lovers” is different kind of temple this trio build every time they share physical space – and headspace, too. Here’s hoping their architectural oeuvre will bring more stunning edifices.
*****