Fjall

Whether updating the past or modifying the future is the proper subtitle for this disc, it certainly marks a change of pace for UK saxophonist Martin Archer. Usually involved in electronically focused or acoustically orchestrated sessions with larger ensembles, Fjall is a quartet whose 12-part suite involves forefront instruments prevalent in the in the 20^th and 21^st centuries mated with ethnic and/or historical ones from before the 18^th Century.

Meandering through the rough hills and valleys if these sequences, Archer, who has played  with everyone from Charolotte Keefe to Simon H. Fell, is featured on concert flute, Bb clarinet, bass clarinet, recorders, harmonicas, melodica, sopranino saxophone, Hulusi flute, percussion and electronics. While Richard Jackson plays only drums and percussion; the other North of England musicians contribute timbres from such unexpected mixes as baritone psaltery, electric Harp. E, cross strung harp, tagelharpa, waterphone, Hulusi flute, cello, electronics, looping and field recordings (Jan Todd, also in Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere) and frame drums, gongs, cymbals, bells, bowls, hand percussion, field recordings (Fran Comyn, who has recorded with Johnny Hunter).

What results is a constantly evolving sonic prism where Renaissance instruments brush against revolutionary ones and purely acoustic motifs undulate in polyphonic form beside – or are superseded by – ones that depend on electric currents. With an intermittent drone prominent during some sequences, expositions advance even as they’re pierced by zither-like plucks, cymbal resonation, aggressive plinks or gradually widening glissandi. Those sound sources range from harp string interpolations and rotating idiophone motifs that take in Jazz-approximating drum rhythms, martial beats and frame-drum vibrations.

Mostly limiting himself to transverse flutters or reed smears, Archer also contributes to the suite’s linear overlay when he arches tremolo lyricism from a melodica while the intersecting and bellicose percussion and string crashes are heard below. The futuristic touches encompass the use of field recordings sourced by Comyn and Todd, But like the unique intertwining of traditional and transitional textures, these recording range from bird songs that add melodic qualities to some section’s, to human vocalized mumbles, yodels and natters that expand miasma in certain parts of the musical progression.  

With this program engrossing in its advancement and audacity, it remains to be seen if Fjall will be a one/off project or a concept that quartet members to fruitfully explore in the future.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. From The Rough Hill 1 2. From The Rough Hill 2 3. From The Rough Hill 3 4. From The Rough Hill 4 5. From The Rough Hill 5 6. From The Rough Hill 6 7/ From The Rough Hill 7 8. From The Rough Hill 8 9. From The Rough Hill 9 10. The Rough Hill 10 11. From The Rough Hill 11 12. From The Rough Hill 12

Personnel: Martin Archer (concert flute, Bb clarinet, bass clarinet, recorders, harmonicas, melodica, sopranino saxophone, Hulusi flute, percussion, electronics); Jan Todd (baritone psaltery, electric Harp. E, cross strung harp, tagelharpa, waterphone, Hulusi flute, cello, electronics, looping, field recordings); Fran Comyn (frame drums, gongs, cymbals, bells, bowls, hand percussion, field recordings); Richard Jackson (drums and percussion)