Reviews
Artist:Cut The Sky Album: Esz Kodesz
Label: Aion
Tracks: 6
Website: http://www.alexrothmusic.com/
Alex Roth is a Detroit born, London raised, experimental progressive rock composer and guitarist, whose work with fellow experimental musicians Wac?aw Zimpel and Hubert Zemler has recently metamorphosed into a trio by name of Cut The Sky.
Roth is a descendent of Polish Jews, and in 2018 relocated to Kraków to fulfil a British Council supported residency at the Galicia Jewish Museum in the city, where he was also granted a Creative Scholarship. In so doing, he set himself on a path to reshape and reinvent his music in the context both of his new surroundings and his ancestry. The result is a 6-track debut album, "Esz Kodesz" which is to be released on 1st December. The album will also have a live launch on 12th December in Kraków's Klub Alchemia.
The groundwork for "Esz Kodesz" involved several months of field recordings at sites around both Poland and Ukraine where remnants of those countries' Jewish histories could still be felt, a form of exercise in landscape archaeology. The end result is mesmeric, and initially reminded me of a freeform version of Ozric Tentacles. It's very difficult to box this album in, because it could be progressive rock, jazz, at times classical, or one could just opt for the safe option of 'world music'.
The opening track's title "Clattering" is an antonym to the trancey, relaxing, meditative soundscape that unfolds, with each of the musicians building their parts in an entirely natural collaborative effort. Often with such freeform jams, there's a tendency for one player to dominate, but this track provides an equal fusion of talent.
The descriptively titled "The Swans Will Sing When The Jackdaws Fall Silent" is a short piece that leaves behind the rhythmic cadence of the opening track, to offer something bleaker, more minimalistic, in the manner of Klaus Schulze. It acts as a buffer between the opening track and the title track of the album.
"Esh Kodesh" is the anglicised spelling of the album title, which translated means 'sacred fire'. This piece is characterised in its early stages by the use of guitar feedback over light percussion. It creates a darkness that is then countered by the light of some rather beautiful clarinet playing. By the time the track reaches its close, the instruments have each taken on an extra dimension: more urgency in Zemler's percussion, more texture from Roth's guitar, and saxophonic sounds from Zimpel's clarinet.
The electric guitar opening for "Lullaby for Gajla" is lain over subtle electronics, and brings down the pace and volume from the title track. A call and response section between guitar and clarinet follows, before a slow, rock drum beat interjects and provides a restful drive ahead of ithe track's slow fade. There is nothing flaunty about this album. Everything is carefully blended and nothing is rushed.
An interestingly times percussion piece overlays an electronic drone chord to introduce "Podzielone Kro?lestwo". There are echoes (pun) of early Pink Floyd as the instrumental layers build. Of all the tracks on "Esz Kodesz", this is the most freeform. I haven't worked out why yet, but the word 'resilience' kept recurring as I listened through, although maybe fragility creeps in towards the close?
The album's final track is greeted by church bells and is the trio's interpretation of "Lord Have Mercy". It's opening calm is broken by a short, 'trumpet-call' clarinet piece and the album ends on a note of peace.
When you listen to an album whose creators you've not previously encountered, you have to throw off all preconceptions and prejudices to gain a deeper understanding of why and how it was all put together. Roth's explanatory notes are comprehensive in linking it to his own life's journey, but even without a detailed explanation I think I'd probably have got its drift. This is a beautiful piece of work.
John Reed
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