Skeleton Key
Noyammas
Unnamed Cells
Stoner
Peak Fall
Counter of The Cumulus
Ameliasburg
Sketch 8
Moons
Brother Dom
Exhausted Clock.
Myriad3 is a Canadian trio whose 11-track disc offers plenty of reasons for admiration. There’s a slight Bad Plus vibe to their democratic distribution of
sound and also in the way they develop powerful, chordally visceral grooves, as in the strong opener, Skeleton Key. This, allied to a certain
reflective quality, gives the tracks a keen individuality especially when – sample Noyammas – the music has a fierce angularity. It’s this
enduring ability to set up galvanizing swing that gives this trio its power, and it’s one that’s full of flair and interplay. There are no notes but I
wonder if Stoner is named after the John Williams novel. If so, it would fit as there is a real sense of narrative here – a quite stoicism, almost
elegiac, a slow-moving and reflective piece that animates and develops but then returns to its initial stoic impulse. A real classical ABA pervades this
and it proves the expressive heart of the album, splendidly played, in particular, by pianist Chris Donnelly.
There is also vibrant rock-motored impulses, such as the intriguingly titled Counter of the Cumulus, but also a certain classical infiltration
too, pianistically, that expands the DNA of the trio – a playful, pithy quality. There’s a brief March pattern, established by Ernesto Cervini’s drums, in Sketch 8 - another element of the success of the album is the mature interplay between all three instruments. There’s nothing astral or spectral
about the calm piano chords in the title track but much here is subtly coloured whereas Brother Dom is an eclectic number, rhythmically engaged,
and a kind of polyrhythmic study.
This album has a rich array of textures, colours, rhythms, and moods. Tunes are characterful, and this is a real trio of equals. There’s a great deal to
admire and like.
Jonathan Woolf
CD Reviews
