Kaolin
Soul City, 2022
8/10
The bass wizard Phil Venable pairs up with the drummer Paul Swest/Charles Chace for these spontaneous 5 tracks that employ ambience and some restraint and were recorded on the fly, with little editing or overdubbing.
“Cave, Steve, Process” opens the listen with swift guitar playing, some screeching dissonance and a whole lot of imagination in the hypnotic and jagged improvisation that few could replicate, and “Damned Thing” follows with a much more calm display, where intricate bass and a low atmosphere rumbles a bit with mystery.
“Objects Romantic” lands in the middle, and showcases meticulous, mesmerizing guitar playing for 8+ minutes, while “Echoe Lake Paragraph” drones a bit with carefully plucked bass and a bit on cinematic manipulation that’s sci-fi friendly. “Violet Timber” exits the listen, and presents a nearly mechanical feel that truly defies classification and is quite fascinating.
Both Venable and Swest/Chace play in the free jazz outfit Tragic Assembly, and they bring a wealth of talent to these truly unique songs that could never be replicated, and utilize shakers, bells, sakara, tumbi, shehnai and ocarinia.
Travels well with: Phil Venable- Bassworks Vol. 1; Tragic Assembly- Instability