Label: Relative Pitch, 2020
Personnel - Susan Alcorn: pedal steer guitar; Mary Halvorson: guitar; Michael Feldman: violin; Michael Formanek: acoustic bass; Ryan Sawyer: drums.
Cleveland-born, Baltimore-based pedal steel guitar player/composer Susan Alcorn always finds a taut balance between articulate melody and ambiguous, atmospheric ambiances. She’s usually seen playing in duo and trio formats but for her most recent outing, Pedernal, she assembled a quintet with three old collaborators - guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Ryan Sawyer - and a new backer of her musical cause - violinist Michael Feldman. The album embraces diverse languages, moods and styles, yet, the five Alcorn compositions perfectly cohere as a whole.
The title track initiates the journey by centering guitar and bass in a spiritual communion. The group embraces folk, chamber music and country-jazz with a deep melodic sense in this charming sonic portrait of Cerro Pedernal, a narrow mesa located in northern New Mexico.
Inspired by the Anasazi dwellings in southeastern Utah’s Hovenweep National Monument, “Circular Ruins” enhances a contrasting, restless cymbal activity within the reflective mood delineated by concurrent guitars and violin countermelodies. Halvorson’s exquisite tones are wonderful during the explorative states of suspension created by Alcorn’s colorful chordal work and the lugubrious bowing of the bass and violin.
“R.U.R.”, whose title refers to Karel Capek’s 1920 science fiction play of the same name, reveals a playful nature while expressing bop-flavored lines over an elastic swinging motion. The intimate dialogues between the musicians are not averse to occasional contrapuntal agitation. And these types of episodic reaction driven by furor can be spotted again on “Night in Gdansk”, a 13-minute piece that, in spite of the balletic movements wrapped in dreamy and enigmatic tones, feels sometimes wayward without ever becoming disheveled in its pose. The first part of this composition, which Alcorn had written to be played solo, was adapted to the quintet format, and the group delivers.
The album concludes with the folk musings of “Northeast Rising Sun”, whose euphonic theme is challenged by the soloists' subsequent outside moves. This piece calls forth the Qawwali music.
Alcorn’s long-awaited debut as a leader is a promising sign regarding the work that will come in the future.
Grade B+
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Pedernal ► 03 - R.U.R. ► 05 - Northeast Rising Sun