The Nels Cline Singers – MacRoscope (CD)
Product Details
Before Wilco made him a household name in indie rock circles, Nels Cline had already spent decades as one of the most restlessly inventive guitarists in the avant-garde and experimental jazz worlds. MacRoscope finds the Singers, rounded out by drummer Scott Amendola and bassist Devin Hoff, operating at the peak of their chemistry, a trio so attuned to each other that even the sharpest left turns feel inevitable in hindsight.
Macroscope, the fifth album and Mack Avenue debut by his adventurous trio The Nels Cline Singers, provides a measure of the long-running group's staggering range. Captivating and continually surprising, the album finds the instrumental trio with the slyly deceptive name veering in one off-kilter direction only to suddenly be overwhelmed by another drastic stylistic shift, often within the space of a single tune. Serrated psychedelia becomes consumed by soulful Brasiliana, blissed-out electronica overwhelmed by garage-rock skronk. Then there's the wholly unexpected "Red Before Orange," where a howling Hendrix-inspired solo suddenly erupts in the middle of a slick lounge-jazz number, Cline unleashing the inner George Benson that few of us expected he even had.
Tracklist
UPC: 673203108523
Label: Mack Avenue Records
Release Date: 4.15.14
Format: CD