Nels Cline Singers - Draw Breath

Cryptogramophone 1333

Confounding its forecasted “fifteen minutes”, the ironic trope laced into the name of Nels Cline’s trio still has the capability to make me chuckle. It’s testament to both his good humor and sly charm and a reflection of his abiding intent not to take himself or his music too seriously. Cline composes “songs” and the argument could be made that the instruments do in fact “sing”, but in the sense of a traditional vocal presence there’s none to be found. A fair bit of Zappa arises in the ascription also, an influence that Cline would readily cop to if queried. As with previous releases, Devin Hoff handles contrabass and Scott Amendola doubles on drums and “live” electronics. Special guest Glenn Kotche adds percussion, crotales and glockenspiel on the closing “Squirrel of God”, another of Cline’s non sequitur appellations.

Cline has the sort of omnivorous musical hunger that can be a handicap in lesser hands. Overly populous ingredients in the stew pot have summarily ruined many a session. But in Cline’s case, the fevered eclecticism rarely feels forced and never ego-oriented. Also surprising is his avid embrace of the more ostentatious elements of prog rock and pop metal. His playing on the tellingly titled “Confection” captures all the cosmic pomp of a soaring Satriani or Vai (Zappa nod again) improvisation, rife with florid arpeggiations and high caloric chords that both celebrate and satirize the sources. “The Angel of Angels” and the two “Recognize” pieces are near polar opposites of that excess, referencing lyrical acoustic folk not out of place on a circle of Windham Hill vinyl. The only partial misfire to my ears comes with the bloated “An Evening at Pops’” where these otherwise effective elements butt uncomfortably against each other and end up quarreling to a fault. The opening “Caved-In Heart Blues” oddly recalls Gershwin’s “Summertime” recast as a reverb-swathed tribal dirge. “Attempted” is pure egghead guitar god exorbitance folded back in on itself as Cline sprints from Metheny-ish single note jazz lines to full bore Mick Barr math metal riffs and back.

Recently, I have been revisiting several of the Hendrix studio compilations released by Dagger Records. Listening to the iconic guitarist work out protean jams with both his Experience and Band of Gypsys colleagues, free from album constraints, Cline’s name keeps creeping into my cranium as a present day corollary. Both men share a knack for funneling influences in courageously counter-intuitive directions, stirring potential mistakes directly into the mix and moving relentlessly forward. Both make it a point to paste their personalities indelibly on their instruments. Cline is already well past the age when Hendrix prematurely passed and, knock on fretboard, shows no signs of slowing physically or creatively. With the Singers as but one of his multifarious creative outlets, we should consider ourselves fortunate.

~ Derek Taylor