Tigersmilk's third album makes clear its one-take improvisational origins with the opening "Poured over Waves Ecstatic Charge," the sound of a small free improv combo loosening up before the blowing session really starts. That finally happens on the far more organized second track, "Falling Signals Rise." Opening with an almost ambient solo statement by cornet and electronics specialist
Rob Mazurek that bassist
Jason Roebke and drummer
Dylan van der Schyff respond to with equally admirable restraint, the track ebbs and flows organically, keeping the listener's interest through subtle dynamic shifts.
Mazurek, a member of the post-rockers
Isotope and the lead of the ever-shifting
Chicago Underground collective, has rarely stayed so close to jazz for the length of a full album before, although it's jazz of his own quirky stripe. Note the semi-random banjo twangs on the brief
van der Schyff showcase "Minimal Distress Code" towards the set's end, for example. Regardless, good stuff for anyone with an interest in Chicago-style improv explorations. ~ Stewart Mason