GEARBOX RECORDS 7th Feb 2025
It’s jazz, Jim; but not as we know it. Elliot Galvin has honed, twisted and created eleven surprising slabs of sound. A pianist by trade (a member of Shabaka Hutching’s band), he opens with ‘A House, A City’; a rumination on solo piano before journeying to strange dimensions. At one point, in ‘As If By Weapons’, a section sounded like Throbbing Gristle’s industrial onslaught. Based on a set of acoustic piano improvisations, he has woven in synthesiser, rhythm machines, wordless vocals, breathy flute from Shabaka, strings from the Ligetti Quartet and some groovy percussion. The result seems initially daunting and not an instant grab but after two or three listens it rolls over and offers up the goodies.
A dense listen, it starts simple, builds to an intense middle section then returns to simple solo piano. Intended to be bleak, Galvin describes the set as being a reflection on Britain feeling like a ruined country, the disintegrating feel of the Medway and the ruins of our past selves as we recreate and change ourselves. That said, it’s not as bleak as Elliot says it is, being full of busy ideas and colour, like the flute in ‘Gold Bright’. Things rarely get crowded, with the sound focusing mainly on one or two instrumental voices at any given time (excepting the glorious swirl of the aforementioned) – if you want to hear Shabaka’s contribution stage-front, head for ‘High and Wide’. It’s successor, ‘In Concentric Circles’ is a purely percussive ride, cycling round plucked strings, bass notes and other clicks and taps. ‘Fell Broadly’ hangs in the air, barely moving, in the way that parts of ‘She Loved Him Madly’ did for Mile Davis.
The whole is a contemplative listen, one to spend some time with, soaking up the atmospheres.