New music

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This article was published 29/09/2022 (1437 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ROCK/METAL

KEN Mode

Null (Artoffact Records)

The phrases seem snatched from therapy sessions:

“It was a mistake to ask me for help,” from a song called A Love Letter.

“I feel trapped in my inability to get you through this,” from Throw Your Phone in the River.

“I’ve got nothing worthwhile to say, and you’ve got no reason to listen,” from But They Respect My Tactics.

As yes… Jesse Matthewson must be back to playing detuned guitar, shredding his vocal cords and exorcising his personal demons on a new KEN Mode record, the eighth full-length offering from the singer/guitarist, his drummer brother Shane, bassist Skot Campbell and saxophonist/keyboardist Kathryn Kerr (now a full member, after playing on three songs from 2018’s Loved).

Over KEN Mode’s two decades, the Matthewsons have always worked in the dark and shadowy margins — veering close to avant-garde noise-rock while also churning out pounding, near-metallic sonic assaults.

Null, which was produced by Andrew Schneider (Unsane), finds the band embracing its full arsenal, from the throbbing roil-and-scream of opening track A Love Letter (replete with Kerr’s skronking sax) to the post-punkish guitar-and-bass interplay of The Desperate Search for an Enemy.

The album’s centrepiece-cum-masterpiece is Lost Grip, a 10-minute dynamic excursion through all that KEN Mode offers — moody passages of ominously swelling synths, buzzing amps, pummelling drums and haunting piano and a stirring middle passage of sludgy guitar and bass, in which Jesse observes: “This is a dying land, and we don’t care; we never did.”

Some listeners might say Jesse is being melodramatic. But he might just be right. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THESE: Lost Grip, A Love Letter, The Desperate Search for an Enemy

— John Kendle

BLUES

Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues

More Different Voices (Dawnserly Records)

For more than half a century, Corky Siegel has brought new colors to the blues. More Different Voices is the latest endeavour by the composer/arranger to bridge musical genres and cultural divides, making the world slightly smaller and kinder.

The Chicago-born pianist has long favoured classical flavours, and here he pairs his distinctive harmonica work with a string quartet, the result akin to a collaboration between Big Bill Broonzy and Borodin.

Kalyan Pathak’s tabla and a parade of guests render any stylistic boundaries even more elastic. Not everything works, and at least a couple of cuts run too long, but Siegel’s adventurous approach defies the notion the blues are formulaic.

Hine Ma Tov Blues quotes Mannish Boy while featuring a Jewish melody even more ancient. Joyful Jambalaya is an instrumental jam with skittering strings and a gonzo harp solo.

Even the 12-bar blues form becomes unpredictable on Twisted when the strings sound as though they might launch into Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue.

Throughout, Siegel keeps us guessing as to what will come next. Tracy Nelson sings a powerful rendition of her piano ballad Down So Low, and even 45 minutes into the album, it’s somehow a surprise when the classical strings enter.

They sound great. Tell Tchaikovsky the news. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THESE: Hine Ma Tov Blues, Down So Low

— Steven Wine, The Associated Press

JAZZ

Gentiane MG

Walls Made of Glass (TPR Records)

Montreal-based pianist/composer Gentiane Michaud-Gagnon, known simply as Gentiane MG, confirms her stature as a major artist on her third album as leader. Her trio here feature longtime colleagues Levi Dover on bass and Louis-Vincent Hamel on drums.

She credits her classical training to some extent in her music, as it displays beautiful lyricism within cleanly delivered jazz roots.

The whole album is a melodic treat. From the Prologue of the first track to Epilogue as the final one, with quiet moments and cascading arpeggios the listener is gifted with accessible beauty. Her trio mates offer both solid support and terrific solos. Tracks such as Burning Candle are deceptive in offering dissonant moments that don’t seem dissonant. Rather, Michaud-Gagnon’s technique and touch allow her to communicate melody and mood within completely modern avant-garde emotions and sounds.

Rhythmic variation, as in Flowers Laugh Without Uttering a Sound, give all three members a strong role, especially drummer Hamel. I was repeatedly struck by Gentiane MG’s ability to devise tunes that remain clean and melodic while her chordal or soaring glissandi show the depth and intensity of her music without impacting the melodic mood.

The tunes reflect her feelings about the environment, nature and simply the sounds associated with them. The Moon, The Sun, The Truth, Little Tree and the title track offer variety but a sense of wholeness that the prologue and epilogue frame.

Listening to this album communicates a sense of peace and perhaps gentleness. There is nothing glib, nothing faked, simply confident creativity. This is a thoroughly enjoyable release. Merci. ★★★★1/2 out of five

STREAM THESE: Un pied en dehors du nid, Walls Made of Glass

— Keith Black

CLASSICAL

Bruckner: Symphony No. 4

London Symphony Orchestra & Sir Simon Rattle (LSO Live)

In this new 2-CD release, the London Symphony Orchestra, led by Sir Simon Rattle, performs Anton Bruckner’s mighty Symphony No. 4 in E flat major, a.k.a. the Romantic symphony, conjuring images of medieval knights and misty woodlands that fairly leap off the manuscript page into listeners’ imaginations.

What makes this album unique, however, is that it’s also the world première of the work in its entirety, including two later discarded movements, Scherzo and Finale, with the Urtext Edition by Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs, published in 2021. This provides a valuable historical context and broader perspective for the Austrian composer’s painstaking revisions, made between 1878 and 1881, which Bruckner fans will find fascinating as they compare and contrast each section with the final version.

The revered maestro’s penchant for this particular work is well known, with his expansive approach infusing each of its four movements with requisite drama, from its opening plaintive horn calls through to its rousing conclusion.

The famous “Hunt’ Scherzo, as well as its accompanying Trio (the latter comprised of a rustic Landler), also rollicks with life, while the Finale that replaced its prototype, Volksfest Finale, is taut with suspense.

The comprehensive recording (which admittedly takes some dissecting to fully appreciate the chronology of the respective movements, including the “outtakes”) includes an extended original version of the second movement, Andante quasi Allegretto, allowing listeners to step into Bruckner’s mind and understand his compositional choices a little bit better. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THIS: Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, “Hunt” Scherzo

— Holly Harris