Secret People
Out Of Your Head, 2022
8/10
The very detailed trio of Nathaniel Morgan (alto saxophone), Dustin Carlson (guitar, bass), and Kate Gentile (drums, vibraphone), as Secret People they’ve been plugging away for a decade (first just as Carlson and Gentile) with their inimitable jazz, metal, classical, and avant-garde rock hybrid that’s also quite familiar with improvisation.
“Choc(h)oyotes” opens the listen with the brass, guitar and drums interacting with much adventurousness in a very charming, free jazz sort of way that’s capable of both calm moments as well as busy bouts, and “Legitimate Perseverance” follows with acrobatic drumming, firm sax and hypnotic guitar in the mesmerizing climate.
“Peephole” and “Ascetic Dust” lands in the middle, where the former emits a swirling noise-rock approach to the jazz tendencies, while the latter is a calmer affair of more straight forward jazz ideas. “Swamp Gaze” exits the listen, and brings back the fury of energetic drums, wild sax and an almost tribal like feel amid the iconoclastic song craft.
A very peculiar effort, you’ll experience intense moments alongside near silence, as the very capable hands here manipulate space and tension like a refined art form on this fascinating body of work.
Travels well with: Curt Sydnor- Deep End Shallow; David Leon- Aire De Agua