CD Review: Tomas Fujiwara's Triple Double - March / Brandon Seabrook - In The Swarm

Tomas Fujiwara's Triple Double

March

(Firehouse 12) www.firehouse12.com or tomasfujiwara.bandcamp.com/album/march

It's no exaggeration to say that Tomas Fujiwara wrote the book on two guitar/two brass/two drums music. But that's directly related to the fact that there wasn't such a book written prior to Triple Double's self-titled debut in 2017. The group charted territory that explored the possible combinations of players in duos and trios with an array of sonic results.

Since that release, the band (Fujiwara and Gerald Cleaver on drums; Mary Halvorson and Brandon Seabrook on guitar; Ralph Alessi on trumpet and Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet) has grown from a first-time blend of like minds to a group that, through Fujiwara's writing, has figured out the best ways to bring those voices to together. 

The music on March seems to be based as much on the written work as much as the very distinct improvisations that all the musicians will produce. "Wave Shake and Angle Bounce," to offer a good example, lets everyone cut loose at the start. Seabrook is up front, though that perspective could be all relative. The theme does sound like a march, with Halvorson bending notes while the brass blows passages behind her. Eventually the lines are again blurred between who is actually soloing or whether it's a group improvisation. Then the guitars revert to a rhythmic role, so as not to get in anyone's way.  

On their debut, each guitar/horn/drum trio was split between the two channels, making it a little easier to tell who was doing what. Not so this time. Of course, it's easy to tell Halvorson's hollowbody tone and bent pitches from Seabrook's quasi-psychedelic wailing, which starts to sound like Sun Ra's electric keyboard in reverse ("The March of the Storm Before the Quiet of the Dance"). Bynum and Alessi can sometimes be more of a challenge. though Bynum is likely the gruff one of the two. 

Cleaver and Fujiwara occasionally get into a friendly tussle but they also avoid excessive clatter and instead feel like one large trap kit, powering the music. While "Docile Fury Ballad" does not live up to its name until the final minutes of echo-heavy guitars, "Silhouettes In Smoke" does feel docile, with Fujiwara moving to vibes that work beautifully with layers of melody from the trumpet and cornet.

The only let down of March comes with "For Alan, Part II." Like its forerunner on the debut, the track features Fujiwara and Cleaver in a duet that pays tribute to Alan Dawson, who had been the former's teacher. Part one included audio excerpts of Dawson giving pointers to young Tomas, but Part Two is all drums. And it goes on for 17 minutes. Interesting layers of traps appear in the piece, such as when a steady pulse exerts itself and doesn't seem to be the work of either drummer. When the duo reaches a lull around the seven-minute mark, it feels like that might have been a good time to stop because the remainder lacks a strong dynamic push. "For Alan, Part II" comes at the end of the album so it doesn't disrupt the flow of a strong album.

Brandon Seabrook

In The Swarm

(Astral Spirits) astralseabrooktrio.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-swarm

Oddly enough, the last time Triple Double was reviewed on this blog, it was paired with another album that included Brandon Seabrook. This time, Album Number Two features 2/6 of Triple Double: the guitar slinger - and banjo slinger on a few tracks - and Cleaver. The album might be credited to Seabrook but Cooper-Moore and Cleaver contribute just as much to the session, and could just as easily equal top billing.

Throughout the album Cooper-Moore, who handles low end bass parts on his hand-crafted Diddley Bow, and Cleaver, on drums, function in a unique way as a rhythm section. While Seabrook plays freely on his own, the other two sound simultaneously like they're in step with each other and splitting apart at the same time. The effect creates an interesting pulse to the music that is built on flexibility. 

All the music was created spontaneously by the trio, but Seabrook edited them into "songs." Cleaver also added some electronics. The post-production work adds a level of intrigue to the flow, such as a section in the title track when two additional banjo tracks - one in each channel - compliment the strings flailing away in the center. 

Throughout the album, the mood shifts from ambient to free skronk to no wave. The latter style is felt in "Seething Ecitations," in which the opening rumbles could actually be distorted voices or drop-tuned, trashy guitars. "Subliminal Gaucheries" begins and concludes with some terrestrial drones, abetted by sustained notes courtesy of a bowed banjo. As things unfold, it sounds like a couple different songs are spilling onto one another, but the feeling has a sound not typically associated with Seabrook - beauty. 

But it wouldn't be a Seabrook album without some serious mayhem, and the feral banjo strumming in "Adrenaline Charters" delivers plenty of that. In between, the trio creates some free psych-funk ("Vibrancy Yourself") and closes the album with 69 seconds that captures them rocking out in their own way ("Of The Swarm").As a final statement, the track seems to imply, "Tune in next time. There's more where that came from."