Detailed Reviews [Light Coorporation - 2014 - "Chapter IV: Before the Murmur of Silence"]

Prolusion. The Polish band LIGHT COORPORATION was formed sometime around 2007, and their stated aim from the onset was to blend progressive rock and avantgarde jazz, and incorporating multimedia contents for their live performances. They made their debut with "Rare Dialect" in 2011, a production that saw them attached to the UK label ReR Megacorp (owned by former members of Henry Cow). Three more albums by the band have appeared since then. "Chapter IV: Before the Murmur of Silence", the most recent of those, was also released by ReR Megacorp – in 2014.

Analysis. While the stated original aim of this band was to blend progressive rock with avant-garde jazz, it would appear that their approach has been altered ever so slightly over the years. This latest production of theirs is one that, most likely, won't find too much of an audience inside a regular progressive rock oriented crowd, and comes across as much more of a production aimed towards a liberal-minded jazz audience, as I experience it. There are still elements of rock music present, but now used and explored much more inside what I'd describe as a more typical jazz-based context and framework. The compositions on this CD, which probably would be better to describe as performances, are all quite improvisational in spirit and execution. We have plenty of passages driven on by solid, creative and firmly controlled bass and drum patterns, with brass instruments and guitars improvising on top. Harmony solo passages do appear too; tight interplay beneath the sax and trumpet in particular, but also alternating passages, where one or the other takes the lead supported by the other. The guitars are used either as a plucked, delicate backdrop, as calmly surging harmony-based textures or as a more wildly distorted and frequently reverberating riff mode. The various cuts ebb and flow in intensity, from careful atmospheric laden sequences to tight, dark toned vibrant runs as well as more chaotic, abrasive movements with disharmonies dominating by way of non-harmony based individual instrument patterns or staccato, noise-tinged all instrument bursts. All the performances are instrumental, and the main differences between them are in terms of the dominating mood or scale of intensity used. The concluding magnum opus Space Travel in an Old Painting is the odd one out here though, with its strict focus on delicate instrument details and a purebred focus on space and room in what comes across as a freely improvised feature throughout. A performance I'd describe as loose, in the sense of nothing coming across as a strict foundation or driving element in this long, mainly calm and detached journey.

Conclusion. "Chapter IV: Before the Murmur of Silence" comes across as a production that operates out from a foundation of jazz fusion or avant-garde jazz first and foremost, flavoring this foundation with some rock music elements without leaving the feeling of this being primarily a jazz album behind. A CD that merits a check by those who tend to be intrigued by improvised instrumental jazz, incorporating elements from challenging rock, rather than the other way round.

OMB=Olav M Bjornsen: Agst 22, 2016
The Rating Room