Label: Pi Recordings, 2023
Personnel - Jeremy Viner: tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet; Matt Mitchell: piano, Prophet-6, modular synths, electronics; Kim Cass: electric and acoustic bass; Kate Gentile: drums, vibraphone, composition.
The multifaceted drummer and composer, Kate Gentile, demonstrates how her compositions can encompass magnetic rhythms, mechanic entanglement, and fluid gravitation in a seismic triple album that offers over three hours of modern creative music. Leading an explorative quartet of Brooklyn-based creatives, including keyboardist Matt Mitchell (her co-conspirator in the Snark Horse duo project), bassist Kim Cass, and saxophonist/clarinetist Jeremy Viner, Gentile mounted Find Letter X in three volumes with a total of 41 tracks. In this review, I will primarily focus on Volume I, titled Iridian Alphabet, an evocation of the magic hour of the night and the mystery drawn from the inexplicable.
The album begins with the short-lived but exquisite “Pulse Capsule”, featuring a syncopated beat and strong electronic components. It proceeds to “Laugh Magic”, an overheated psychedelic journey that lifts us from the ground into the atmosphere. The tranquility of the saxophone is set against the frantic pulsations created by piano, bass and drums. The tempo gradually accelerates alongside mutations in texture, leading to exciting solos from Mitchell and Viner over a churning musical tapestry.
The acutely nuanced “Subsurface” highlights saxophone multiphonics on top of a deep substratum. It immerses the listener in a hazy cloud of tranquility punctuated with a few dark spots, all accompanied by Gentile’s effective brushwork. Even transcending influences, Viner’s solo here awakens memories of Sam Rivers’s playing. “Recursive Access” boasts a mesmerizing punk-rock drive with enough groove nuance to make you hooked. It also features a cacophonous dialogue between Viner and Mitchell, bringing up gradual changes over time. In a whimsical approach, Gentile ends up stepping up and down in tempo.
“In Casks” opens with a wonderful bass soliloquy and unfolds with polyrhythmic expertise. This fashionable expressiveness persists on burning avant-garde swaggers lie “Ore Whorls” and “Erinome”. The group makes “Prismatoid” as much accentuated and fractured as malleable, forging a shape that represents the swing of the new era. And Cass delivers a zippy statement that deserves one’s full attention. The first volume concludes with “Invisible Wolves”, a porous sound bubble reverberating with vibraphone, droning aesthetics, and a looming sense of danger.
Volume II (Senselessness) takes on a more aggressive tone, infused with high-octane noise, grainy textures, and distortion for a prog-rock, post-punk, trashy metal feast that feels like a futuristic fusion. Volume III (The Cosmic Brain) is a personal favorite, exploring a variety of energies and tones with baffling intricacy and metrical fascination.
Kate Gentile showcases her excellent skills, nodding to different styles in order to create deliberate abstraction and unwavering certitude. The epic Find Letter X stands as one of the most high-energy opuses of the year.
Favorite Tracks:
04 - Subsurface ► 05 - Recursive Access ► 08 - Ore Whorls