Label: self released, 2023
Personnel - Dan Pitt: guitar; Alex Fournier: bass; Nick Fraser: drums.
If the Canadian guitarist/composer Dan Pitt has been flying under the radar, now is the time he gets some attention via Stages, a nervy sophomore album made with his working trio, featuring bassist Alex Fournier (Triio) and Nick Fraser (Tony Malaby, Kris Davis). These musicians possess ample resources to make you want explore their sounds, probing powerful rock-influenced settings with plenty of room for improvisation.
Several titles make reference to time. The opener, “Fourteen Days” is a downtempo excursion bookended by interspersed chords and single notes with a nearly classical intonation. In the middle, we have sharp cymbal demarcations, bass lines that turn everything darker in tone, and the melodic eruption of the guitar in an intriguing solo designed with inside/outside allure. “Tape Age” is minimal and lyrical, whereas “Fifteen Minutes” is cooked up in seven with the authority of alternative rock. There’s pressurized rhythmic accentuation too, as well as sharp unisons and muscular drumming.
“Part Two” springs up with a melancholy bass monologue that matures into an exotic odd-metered Eastern dance textured with fine aesthetic judgment. In turn, “Stages” feels like a cinematic neo-country rock song, which, displaying its propensity for free and experimental sounds, concludes with a wired, edgy guitar solo over a vamping sequence.
Darker musical pigments cover both “Foreboding” and “Ghosts”, transporting listeners to a somber reverie. Funneling elements of the indie rock and metal genres, the former adds up beat cycles of six and eight, and terminates with distortion. The latter piece, also ending up in a gritty electrified tone, starts off introspectively with shimmering harmonic reflections and poetic arco bass qualities.
Pitt is an interesting composer whose work we want to keep an eye on. This set, by turns delicate and vigorous, hangs together nicely and cohesively, demonstrating the contemporary art of this trio.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Fourteen Days ► 05 - Fifteen Minutes ► 07 - Stages