Prismatic Season

Improv jazz trio of sax, drums, and piano. Nicely intense stuff that adds an aggression not found in '70s free jazz. Rent Romus darkens things considerably on sax (as he did on his recent albums including You Can Sleep When You're Dead), and Jon Brumit on drums plays a forceful hand, sometimes brutally loud. Also with Thollem McDonas on piano.

Recorded live, with middling fidelity. Track #9 is something else entirely: a solo drone by Steven Baker.

1- Opens like a neat little jazz tune, but cracks apart into playful improvisation
2- Blazing, after a slow start. Opens with a drum attack.
3- Chamber-serious improv, with some nice dizzying piano. Starts quiet.
4- A bit jazzy/soulful, but in an open, free context. Fast, mid-intensity dabblings. Super quiet near the end.
5- Patient clatter; fast passages mixed with empty space.
6- Piano spiral building tension. Saxes come in for a dark, dread march. (Romus playing two saxes at once). Ends with some nice sax playing.
7- Quite the clatter! Quiet start builds into a rush of drums, then builds again into free-for-all chaos. Includes a very quiet stretch later.
8- Direct attack, fast. Ends with a short, slow march.
9- Electronics drone, 16 minutes long and quiet. A low hum with traces of metallic sounds and a tiny high-pitched component. Builds volume gradually but never gets loud.