Five years after 2008's
Stories from the Shed, Belgian avant jazz-rockers
the Wrong Object return as a remarkably changed band with a new outlook to match on the 2013 MoonJune release
After the Exhibition. Michel Delville remains a guiding force, a highly creative electric guitarist who composed or co-composed six of the album's 11 tracks, but he and drummer Laurent Delchambre are the only returning bandmembers --
the Wrong Object are now a sextet featuring saxophonist/clarinetist Marti Melia, saxophonist François Lourtie, bassist Pierre Mottet, and keyboardist/vocalist Antoine Guenet (
Univers Zero,
SH.TG.N). In addition, guest vibraphonist/marimbist Benoit Moerlen (
Gong, Gongzilla) performs on over half the tracks. With the previous lineup's very capable trumpeter (
Jean-Paul Estiévenart) and tenor saxophonist (
Fred Delplancq) replaced by two diverse reedmen, Guenet and his widely diverse keyboard voicings, and Moerlen and his crisp tuned percussion,
the Wrong Object have a much more varied instrumental palette, and they don't waste their new potential for an instant. In its sax-fueled riff-centric moments and with the density, complexity, and unpredictability of its compositional touches -- which never drag down the music's forward momentum -- the band sometimes recalls the '90s Belgian band X-Legged Sally, and that should be considered a high compliment.
They don't bother with a slow buildup either, bashing out the assaultive jazz-metal opener, "Detox Gruel," like a cross between XLS and King Crimson's "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Pt. 2," and the moment when "Jungle Cow, Pt. 3" threatens to segue into
Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" also pushes the requisite rock buttons. But these interludes are merely one façet in a wildly diverse set mixing tight avant-proggy arrangements with jazzed-up harmonics and energetic solos. The
Wrong Object have previously melded Balkan/Eastern European/Middle Eastern elements with creative jazz (e.g., "Honeypump Riff" from 2007's Platform One), and
After the Exhibition's "Spanish Fly" and "Yantra" tread similar ground. For standout improvisations, note the latter track's showcases for Melia's low-down blurty bass sax, Guenet's burning, swooping keys, and, after Delville's segue of bursts and roars, the high-flying marimba/soprano sax dialogue between Moerlen and Lourtie. Even the collective improv "Jungle Cow, Pt. 1" is densely packed with sounds; free-form but not meandering, it's a perfect entry into the "Jungle Cow" suite's later angularities, rhythmic shifts, and fiery soloing. But the biggest surprise is "Glass Cubes." The eight-and-a-half-minute track begins with Guenet's piano and features vocals from the husband-and-wife team of Guenet and
Susan Clynes evoking a mysterious, even magical mood -- their harmonizing suggests the heyday of
Caravan over 40 years previously. As
Clynes' powerful voice cuts through the wailing saxes at the song's conclusion in an exuberant 9/8 meter, "Glass Cubes" is anthemic yet freewheeling, a Canterbury-style reinvention with a fresh, invigorating 21st century spin. Concluding the album with "Stammtisch," the most purely
Zappa-esque number and yet another highlight, merely reinforces the notion that
After the Exhibition is
the Wrong Object's most diverse and arguably strongest outing thus far. ~ Dave Lynch