Keep Min 2 Dot, "Wounded Golden Section"

wgs

A quick review of a Bandcamp LP, Wounded Golden Section by Keep Min 2 Dot.

The instrumentation is traditional but varied -- guitar, keyboard, reeds, bass, drums -- but doesn't follow roles assigned to the typical jazz combo.

WGS shares affinities with free jazz or RIO but exists in an ambiguous state of "might be studio/might be live performance." It doesn't sound overtracked and it's not evident if "the computer" or DAWs were employed at all. It feels very organic and live-improvisational.

Structure-wise, it's "full" in the sense of sonically and compositionally rich. Each song is a mesh or skein of granular moments -- like atoms -- consisting of a cluster of instruments, tunes, or rhythms.

Each atom has its own mood and set of musical associations, and feels as if it could be spun off into its own composition.

The overall mesh of the tune works like a complex abstract painting, with threads that could be pulled or followed.

All that said, it is not dense, sonic bombardment a la noise music but an "open weave" with overlapping moments flowing from one to the next.

The performances on all instruments are good-to-excellent, almost like samples of "great licks" since the quality or excellence is not in the service of any kind of traditional song structure or development.

In other words, enjoy that guitar chop because you probably won't be hearing it again. On to the next chop! (In a good way.)