An improbable triumph that transcends straightforward description, Dysnomia is simultaneously a jazz album unlike anything you’ve heard before and an accomplished minimalist electronic album…which…errr...contains no electronic instruments whatsoever.
Dysnomia is a great listen. It strikes an unusual balance between the focused and the meditative, keeps the ears engaged for its duration, and suggests a compelling avenue for free improvisation by reinventing itself with a renewed focus on process and prolonged gestures.
What makes Dysnomia particularly satisfying is that it doesn't fall into the traps that other records on Erased Tapes do: a rarefied neo-classical tone, an over-emphasis on wafting melody over rhythm and timbre.
Very rarely does an album seem to adopt a skin of its own, breathing life outside of computer speakers and headphones.
The ultimate irony of Dysnomia is that by playing with musical restraint, they discover whole new avenues of sound that's focused on rhythm, dismantling jazz with the tools that built it.
Conceptually, the band has rendered a queer but inevitable inversion of influence on Dysnomia — they are playing acoustic music influenced structurally and tonally by automatic, electronic composition.
/ | NPR Music |