Brandon Seabrook / Mike Watt / Mike Pride

Brandon Seabrook/Simon Nabatov

Voluptuaries

Leo Records CD LR 894

Two equally valid glimpses of Brooklyn-based guitarist/banjoist Brandon Seabrook’s dexterity are provided by these sessions recorded in different countries about one year apart. Voluptuaries is a voluptuous set of duo improvisations with Russian-American pianist Simon Nabatov from the latter’s Köln home base. A mid-Covid-19, near telmatic disc, Stove Top was put together over a three month period with sonic contributions from the guitarist in Brooklyn, drummer Mike Pride in Chester, N.Y. and bassist Mike Watt in San Pedro, Calif. Seabrook, who has played with Cooper-Moore, was joined by Prude, an associate of Jason Stein and ex-Minuteman Watt, who has become committed to free sounds alongside the likes of Vinny Golia.

Nabatov, who has played with an encyclopedia’s worth of innovative players in Europe and North America, creates any number of tropes from all parts of the piano and in many pitches and tempos, when matched with a guitarist whose stinging licks and wide-ranging drones are harsher than usual. An uncanny connection, uniform quality is expressed over the entire disc. With most sequences propelled allegro and in tandem, motifs range from the guitarist’s slurred fingering and string swelling are paired with glissandi and inner string slides from the pianist on the introductory “Daggers”. Nabatov’s impressionistic melodic strums mixed with Seabrook’s single-string vibrated decoration enliven the final title track. Slower tracks are more thematic and atmospheric, and include low-pitched correlated textures as well as measured piano note spilling cleaved by ukulele-like snaps or lopped string snaps from the guitarist. Speedier sequences are more adventurous without pointless dissonance. Seabrook projects near-flute like buzzing on “Spirit of the Staircase” for instance that’s subdued by a moderated pattern. While the concluding piano runs on “Fresnel Lenses” use backboard wood-like concussion and soundboard rumbles to challenge barbed guitar picking. Process is coupled with power throughout.

Process is expressed, but power is emphasized on the other disc, precisely because the three layers of this musical cake are separated physically. With mixing later done by Pride, the possibility to mix in timbres from his marimba, glockenspiel, bells and organ as well as percussion as well as Seabrook’s banjo and tapes as well as guitar are omnipresent. Not that Watt is underutilized. Every track benefits from his affiliated pulse which solidly anchors and propels the sounds. This is clearly demonstrated on “Luminous Range – Anxious Valve”, the most expressive and individualistic track. Beginning with hard bass pops, Watt is quickly joined by drum backbeats as organ shimmers glockenspiel strokes and taped shakes expand the backing at the same time as single-string guitar picking delineates the exposition. The final section however accelerates from adagio to allegro, hardening the bass part, thickening the backbeat and allowing for more guitar expression, culminating as it began with double bass loops. Other tracks are concentrated enough so that between drum ruffs and guitar flanges Punk and psychedelic rock are evoked. But “heavy” is not the preferred adjective for this trio’s music. Rather than a power trio, the group mixes things up enough so that Seabrook’s clanging banjo frails are featured as early as the first track alongside electric whizzes and bass thumps and are given full expression on the lengthy “Tiller”. Freed of genre consideration, the shattering banjo licks drone and slither alongside organ sways, on-beat drumming and a psychedelic whistle from somewhere. Additional textures are added with marimba clips leading to a staccato banjo response and a final fade among distant keyboard swells and splintered strings. Again as on the Seabrook-Nabatov duo, the three explore some slower narratives, pushed by a constant double bass ostinato and amplified with electric-piano like shakes and caustic, hollow plastic-bottle-like pops from the marimba. But it’s the brisk tunes which emphasize slurred guitar string fingering, hard drumming, and solid bass lines that make the greatest impressions. Still young, Seabrook probably has more tricks up his sleeve or in his fingers. Voluptuaries and Stove Top dynamically preview some of them.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Voluptuaries: 1. Daggers 2. Who Never Dies 4. Dust Storms 4. Fresnel Lenses 5. Squalid Simplicities 6. Foam 7. Grosbeak 8. Spirit of the Staircase 9. Diamonds and Dust 10. Vex Me 11. La Femme Makita 12. Voluptuaries

Personnel: Voluptuaries: Brandon Seabrook (guitar) and Simon Nabatov (piano)

Track Listing: Stove: 1. Beatified, Bedraggled and Bombed 2. Big Burner 3. A Durable Quest 4. Shepherds 5. Tiller 6. Primary Fuel 7. Luminous Range – Anxious Valve 8. Ballad of the Gobsmacked

Personnel: Stove: Brandon Seabrook (guitar, banjo and tapes); Mike Watt (bass) and Mike Pride (drums, marimba, glockenspiel, bells and organ)