By Don Phipps
Strikingly intense, no quarter given – all hands on deck. The music on the
Sentient Beings album, “Truth Is Not the Enemy,” is simply a
roller coaster of highs and lows (or hills and valleys if you will), which,
whether slow-burn or rip-roaring, maintains its intensity from start to
finish.
Recorded live at The Vortex in London on February 8, 2024, “Truth Is
Not the Enemy” features the quartet of John O’Gallagher (alto sax),
Faith Brackenbury (violin / viola), John Pope (bass) and Tony Bianco
(drums). According to Bianco. The recording was made on the last night of a
7-day tour. As such, the musicians had time to hone their improvisations
and experiment with their soundscapes before settling on the course they
would navigate on the final night.
The album consists of two tracks. The first track, “Hills and valleys,”
begins with a rumble – like a thunderstorm on the horizon. As the piece
develops, heat and raw, muddy power surge forward. O’Gallagher’s muscular
lines over Pope’s plucking and Bianco’s splashes on the cymbals suggest a
sense of menace in the offing. Then Brackenbury takes over and the music
turns into a strong rhythmic gallop of striking yet beautiful intensity.
There are hairpin turns and roller coaster levitations before the dust
finally settles in a Brackenbury viola/Bianco drum duet. The quartet
continues to expound – pulling from its toolkit long legato expressions,
impassioned abstractions, and jagged dissonance. Then with Bianco’s all
over drumming propelling the group forward, a wall of sound tapestry
emerges – almost disorienting, like rotating in a circle to the point of
dizziness. The locutions here are simply not for the weak of heart, but
they are also not angry. Ferocious would be a better word, like snow
flurries, scattered by a strong north wind. The piece winds down like a
good mystery novel –the reader uncertain about the outcome yet fully
satisfied with the experience.
The second track, inversely named “Valleys and hills,” begins with
O’Gallagher offering up a lonely soliloquy above the color and texture of
the rhythm section’s explorations and Brackenbury’s wanderings. There is
space here, and the atmospherics are more gentle – like wandering in a dark
forest as light streaks downward through the canopy. As the piece develops,
the music intersects and breaks apart. Pope challenges from the bottom and
O’Gallagher’s sax opens and closes in hip-hoppity fashion. Bianco drives
along – his explosive effort on the trap set a master class of enjoyment
for the listener. Brackenbury joins the fray. She bounces her bow on her
strings before rolling off a series of impressive running intervals, and as
the piece moves forward, she uses electrical effects to broaden her impact.
Bianco keeps up with complex rhythms and what seems like superhuman
all-over efforts. There is so much going on, it feels like a maelstrom or
whirlwind of notes – fast and heavy but not uncontrolled. There is simply
no pussyfooting around for this quartet!
Every note on both tracks has a tenacious nail-biting anxiety to it, like
wing-suiting acceleration through a mountain pass to land on a high-speed
rail. Even the sedate expressions, where the musicians create space for
intimacy and embrace an open architecture, are highlighted by sound drips
and dollops that have a “wide-awake at 3 a.m.” feeling to them. For Bianco,
the music herein has a philosophical foundation. He says, “The purpose was
the Truth of playing, bringing us out of the confusion of this world…. We
all go through the ups and downs of life. Hills and Valleys, but Truth is
not the enemy.”
That said, the musicianship on “Truth Is Not the Enemy,” is exemplary,
evidenced by O’Gallagher’s slice and dice phrasing and hell-raising sax
lines, Brackenbury’s heartfelt and precision flying attacks, Pope’s
wonderful chordal strums and racing bass note plucks, and Bianco’s extreme
up and down roundabout exertions. This is a recording that stands tall,
peering over the abyss with defiance, raising a middle finger to the
darkness. Highly recommended!