Andrew McIntosh: Little Jimmy
Kairos, 2022
8/10
Listen to Andrew McIntosh: Little Jimmy
Yarn/Wire, a New York based percussion and piano quartet, return with a piece by the composer Andrew McIntosh written for them, as well as a pair of solo McIntosh pieces.
“I Have A Lot To Learn” starts the listen with bare and impactful piano performed by Laura Barger, where space and tension are utilized with a very precise attention to tonality and mood.
“Learning” lands in the middle, and is quite atypical, where field recordings taken at Rosenita Saddle in Angeles National Forest, commissioned by Russell Greenberg of Yarn/Wire, are met with vibraphone and glockenspiel meshed with the sound of birds.
The title track exits the listen, and it features 2 pianos and 2 percussionists that can drone with an absorbing quality, just as it can get eerie with repetition. Deeper into the track, the setting is quite minimal, ominous even, with a very striking manipulation of sound.
An album that examines the relationship between humans and nature with a very avant-garde vision that incorporates acoustic, electronic, and recorded sounds, Laura Barger (piano), Julia Den Boer (piano), Russell Greenberg (percussion), and Sae Hashimoto (percussion), i.e. Yarn/Wire, make the most of every creative second on this unique listen.
Travels well with: Carlos Simon- Requiem For The Enslaved; Lorelei Ensemble- Antigone