Lina Allemano's Ohrenschmaus
Flip Side
(Lumo Records) Bandcamp link
Andrea Parkins joins the trio of Lina Allemano (trumpet), Dan Peter Sundland (electric bass) and Michael Griener (drums) on three of the seven tracks of Flip Side. Her accordion, electronics and "objects" add to the quick free romps, which all riff on the album title and explore different textures in their movements. "Sidetrack" is the longest, at nine minutes, beginning softly with scrapes and drones that could be emanating from any of the players. Initially, no one rises to the forefront; making the track serve as a prologue to what will follow. Things starts to coalesce in the final minutes. Allemano moans a note that sounds straight out of Miles Davis' '70s wah wah (though she uses no pedals). Then the track mysteriously fades.
"Sideswipe," three tracks later, picks up where the previous quartet session left off. This time, Parkins' accordion is more prominent, doing a wild dance with the trumpet. By the time the group gets to "Sidespin," Parkins is most prominent, using her accordion like an organ. This final blast barely lasts four minutes, but none of that time is wasted.
The remaining trio tracks find Ohrenschmaus ("ear candy") also vary widely. Sundland's slapped bass in "Signal" sounds like a funk groove that has won't hold together, thanks to Griener's clackety percussion. Allemano seizes the setting for some dirty growls. "Heartstrings" slowly takes shape with some moody mute blowing but "Stricken" is the album's centerpiece. Here, Sundland and Griener play slow and minimally, like a funeral march, while Allemano plays a melancholy line first with a Harmon mute than open. The mood is so spare, it could fall apart instantly, but it moves on with Sundland bowing and plucking. The results sound both dramatic and full.
"The Line," the final trio track before "Sidespin" alternates melodies played by trumpet and bass, with a series of outbursts full of press rolls, bass thumps and eventually some high whoops from the trumpet.
Allemano and her comrades have many moods, but all of them have a fun sense of adventure at the core.
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