Label: Pyroclastic Records, 2025
Personnel - Craig Taborn: keyboards; Nels Cline: 6-string and 12-string guitars, lap steel guitar, bass; Marcus Gilmore: drums.
The extraordinary artistry of keyboardist Craig Taborn, guitarist Nels Cline, and drummer Marcus Gilmore bears fruit in their new project Trio of Bloom, which also marks their debut recording together. The idea for the group came from producer David Breskin, who envisioned echoes of The Power Tools, the one-off late-’80s trio of Bill Frisell, Melvin Gibbs, and Ronald Shannon Jackson.
Appropriately, the album opens with a piece by Jackson, “Nightwhistlers”. In their freestyle approach, Gilmore unleashes kinetic, arrhythmic throbs; Cline layers firm ostinatos, distorted harmonies, and sharp trills; while Taborn grounds it with plodding synth bass, electronic flourishes, and flickering drones. The piece closes with Cline and Taborn echoing the same chant.
Taborn contributes two striking originals. “Unreal Light” begins in an ethereal haze before shifting into an African-inspired texture, his synth emulating xylophone timbres. “Why Canada” is spiky and avant-garde, driven by persistent motifs and sinuous rhythmic patterns. Gilmore’s “Breath” emerges as an atmospheric ballad that later gains momentum through his crisp snare and cymbal work, while the shape-shifting “Bloomers”—a free improvisation influenced by electronic music—moves from playful beats to prog-rock intensity.
Cline leaves his stamp with pieces tinged by alternative rock and funk. “Queen King” finds him doubling on bass, laying a funk foundation that ignites once his guitar takes center stage. “Eye Shadow Eye” begins as a spacious ballad with solos from Taborn and Cline, the latter channeling a 1970s blues-rock vibe reminiscent of Cream. “Forge”, an ambient-rock 3/4 excursion pushed forward by Gilmore’s ebullient drumming, grows darker and denser before segueing into “Bend It”, Terje Rypdal’s 1974 piece, which Cline funkifies on bass guitar.
Thinking outside the box, Trio of Bloom binds grooves, atmospherics, and inventive improvisation into a vibrant new sonic whole. Their intersections feel urgent and luminous, defying genre preconceptions with boldness and imagination.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Nightwhistlers ► 07 - Eye Shadow Eye ► 08 - Why Canada ► 09 - Forge