The saxophones evoke passion but the mood is more equivocal on 2013's
Swim, the fourth full-length album from Portland, Oregon quintet
Blue Cranes and their first for the Cuneiform label.
Reed Wallsmith on alto and
Joe Cunningham on tenor carry the melodic hooks but also wail and howl over the midtempo rockish rhythms of supple acoustic bassist
Keith Brush and drummer
Ji Tanzer and the sometimes dark unfoldings of
Rebecca Sanborn's keyboards, augmented here and there by a string trio or quartet. This is an album with a back-story of life-changing events -- deaths of friends, weddings, new life -- and although
Swim is entirely instrumental and thus avoids telling explicit stories, the significance of these events seems clear in music that is somehow both melancholic and affirming. The album begins with the
Cunningham-penned "Beautiful Winners," a heavy but nevertheless catchy tune and one of only two on the disc with the core quintet unaccompanied by guest artists. Despite some tricky, angular stops and starts from the rhythm section, it's really an indie rock-styled tune with saxes standing in for singers, with a melody you might find yourself humming later. Among the writing and arranging touches that leaven the track's mood, the glockenspiel-like voicings on the bridge are a nice contrast with
Sanborn's low-down distorted keys elsewhere.