I'm no expert on jazz, nor can I quote the rhythmic notations which Peter Brotzmann or Anthony Braxton use to commit their compositions to paper. But for what it's worth, I can enjoy that same music on a purely emotional level. I've exposed myself to as much of it as possible so that I can try to understand it on more than just a conceptual level and as this is a genre that welcomes interpretation, I'm hoping this exposure will allow me insight into the artists themselves. But like the best works from those artists, the enjoyment of this music comes, not from the extensive knowledge of the histories of jazz, but from the connection each note makes with the listener on a personal level. And in that spirit of emotional connectivity, Colin Stetson goes and releases an album which both conforms to and shatters all preexisting notions of what music can be and how it can relate to its audience. There has seldom been an album which so successfully challenges our ideas of what our role is when listening to music. Stetson has developed a formidable technical presence as well as the compositional ability to handle the massive undertaking which forms the basis of his sophomore album.
But talking about New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges from a purely jazz-centric point of view leads to quite a few misnomers. As indebted to the avant-jazz greats of the 50's and 60's as this album is, Stetson approaches these songs through what is ostensbily a pop background, as he has played with bands/artists such as Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, and TV On The Radio, and the pop instincts of those bands infuse these tracks with a pulse that can sometimes be missing when artists go about mining their own influences, regardless of genre.
Stetson has developed his technique of circular breathing to such a degree that it seems as second nature to him as...well, playing his saxophone. With his lungs freed from the constant intake/output neccessity of normal cyclical breathing, he is allowed the room to let these songs feel organic and more a part of him than should be able. The use of dozens of microphones physically attached at various points on his saxophone allows Stetson the ability to record multi-layered tracks in one take, with the clacking of keys and wind blown across the reed functioning as different instruments in the mix. Opener "Awake On Foreign Shores" reverentially treads ground which Penderecki claimed decades ago and which holds up surprisinglly well on its own merits, especially considering the company. His unusual choice to include a cover of Blind Willie Johnson's "Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes" seems much more sensible when heard as the progenitor to modern music that it is, with vocal duties handled by Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond. The eerie and unorthodox saxophone notes which seem to haunt Worden's voice never feel aggressive or counter-intuitive to the songs emotional center. Other tracks like the title track "Judges" and "A Dream Of Water", with its rising and descending scales and Laurie Anderson spoken-word vocals, showcase the dynamic range and virtuosity that he's developed during his tenure working with some of the best bands and artists of the past decade. Stetson has made an album of disquieting beauty and fans of any genre of music should listen and appreciate what can be done when music is allowed to completely saturate an artist and is then released whole and unfiltered.
Tracklisting:
01. Awake on Foreign Shores
02. Judges (listen to the mp3 below)
03. The Stars in His Head (Dark Lights Remix)
04. All the Days I’ve Missed You (ILAIJ I)
05. From No Part of Me Could I Summon a Voice
06. A Dream of Water
07. Home
08. Lord I Just Can’t Keep from Crying Sometimes
09. Clothed in the Skin of the Dead
10. All the Colors Bleached to White (ILAIJ II)
11. Red Horses (Judges II)
12. The Righteous Wrath of an Honorable Man
13. Fear of the Unknown and the Blazing Sun
14. In Love and in Justice
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