Label: Intakt Records, 2024
Personnel - Ingrid Laubrock: tenor and soprano saxophone; Tom Rainey: drums.
Saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and drummer Tom Rainey present a fresh and captivating exploration of sound in their latest album, Brink. This album not only showcases their individuality as creative artists but also highlights the unique duo identity they have honed through numerous sessions, including those recorded in their Brooklyn apartment during the pandemic.
Brink continues their intimate and nuanced relationship with sound and texture, alternating between shorter, intricately designed pieces ("brinks") and more extended forms where they deftly navigate both tempestuous and delicate atmospheres. What fuels the album’s opening track, “Flock of Conclusions”, is the fluidity of a conversation that ebbs and flows vividly, reaching a relevant expressive dimension.
The co-composed piece “Coaxing” showcases Laubrock’s assertive tenor saxophone phrases, which gradually gain weight and meaning over Rainey’s deep, resonant tom-tom work. The controlled flow gives way to an eruptive rhythmic surge in the final section, a cathartic exploration of freedom. Rainey, with his acute sense of musical integration, contributes significantly to Laubrock’s enigmatic composition “Liquified Columns”, where sparse yet tense free musings are punctuated by metallic sounds, deep drumming, and growling saxophone multiphonics. The closing track, “Said, Been Said”, shares a similarly intense spirit.
In “A Peculiar Logic”, another collaborative composition, the duo creates a tight lock-step rhythm, with Laubrock soaring high on soprano sax over Rainey’s comfortable cymbal and snare chatter. “Scrunch Repercussions”, which came out of Laubrock’s mind, is obliquely cut through, a masterclass in articulation and synergistic interplay that evolves in a distinctly tangy style, incorporating martial snare fluxes, well-aligned saxophone outputs, and powerful riffs that trigger dynamic rhythmic motions.
Throughout the album, the telepathic communication between Laubrock and Rainey is on full display, bringing unpredictable forms, surprising timbres, and strains of melody underpinned by exquisite rhythms. Sparking with inventiveness, these freewheeling pieces navigate a range of moods, offering a rich source of inspiration for creative jazz explorers.
Favorite Tracks:
03 - Coaxing ► 07 - A Peculiar Logic ► 09 - Scrunch Repercussions