Unstable Ensemble - The Liturgy of Ghosts
(Family Vineyard)
The members of The Unstable Ensemble hail from Raleigh, Chicago, and Bloomington, so it's fitting that The Liturgy of Ghosts, the group's live debut, was recorded in locales equally as diverse: Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Bloomington, New York City, and Chapel Hill. The two track DAT recordings are roomy, but intimate enough to catch the more delicate moments in the music, of which there are many. The ensemble, a quintet, improvise in swirls and sustained strokes of sound, peppered with soft, smooth lines of more melodic, traditional jazz. Jason Bivins' guitar is omnipresent throughout much of the recordings, whether Bivins is coaxing strands of bowed noise, droning in thick rivers of sound, or improvising nimble runs of clean, crisp notes. Marty Belcher and Joe Donnelly, soprano and baritone saxophonists, respectively, create sparse compliments to Bivins' lead, with Belcher contributing a more constant fluttering and Donnelly adding the punctuation of his low-register answers. Matt Griffin's percussion enters and leaves the mix suddenly throughout the album, and he rarely plays for more that a few clattering seconds, offering fleeting rolls and fills. Eric Weddle is credited as the manipulator of the "no-input mixing board," and, in all honesty, I can't quite figure how a board with no input would have an effect at all, but there are occasional electronic garnishes that can only be attributed to Weddle. His contributions, it seems, are few and far between, or so quiet that the often go unnoticed.
The Liturgy of Ghosts most haunting material is that which balances the more lyrical, melodic segments with heavier doses of the group's more ambient, experimental sounds. Since the improvisations of the ensemble seem so inexorably based on Bivins, it's no surprise that his most inventive and alluring work, that evolving from more untraditional technique, creates the basis for the group's best work. The guitar is almost constant, and is the only instrument to be heard alone on any significant segment of the disc, with the other instruments taking up supporting roles. It's interesting to hear how each musician enters and exits the improvisations, as there are rarely more than two or three musical voices heard at once. Bevins, the group's founder, is unquestionably its navigator, and on The Liturgy of Ghosts Bivins leads the group through generally exciting waters. If The Unstable Ensemble can grow as a group without sacrificing the fresh and unpredictable aspects of their best work, future recordings should reap even more rewards.
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