The doom-jazz power trio Harriet Tubman has released four albums over the past 20 years, none thicker with intention and power than its latest, “Araminta.”
Recorded in collaboration with the deep-toned trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, the record wades through an electric mire with a sense of rugged determination, finding a kind of balance but resisting equilibrium.
Harriet Tubman — Brandon Ross on guitar, Melvin Gibbs on bass and J.T. Lewis on drums — headlines a concert on Wednesday, May 31, as part of Le Poisson Rouge’s “We Resist” series; proceeds will benefit the Equal Justice Initiative. [Read More]
Janel & Anthony — New Moon in the Evil Age (Cuneiform)
Washington DC based musicians Janel Leppin and Anthony Pirog have been working for a while, both as a duo and separately. Pirog’s part of the Messthetics and recently cut a record with James Brandon Lewis, while Leppin played with both Marissa Nadler and Oren Ambarchi, and leads the Ensemble Volcanic Ash. And together they released Where Is Home a little over a decade ago. Now they’re back with a new record: New Moon in the Evil Age. It’s split between two discrete halves: one is built around quiet moments and interplay, the other leans towards indie rock.
“New Moon” opens the first half with Leppin’s atmospheric bowed cello lines and Pirog layering guitar lines over top of each other. It builds up into a swirl of sound before quickly dissipating like a puff of smoke. It’s an approach they go back to on other pieces here: “Bells Ring In the Distance” adds a bit of echo to the mix to give them a wider sense of ambience and a slowly rising riff that’s played in unison slowly gives way to Leppin’s cello. The ideas are traded fast between them as they return to the theme for a quick ending.
Elsewhere the two play with a folksy feel. The gentle acoustic guitar on “Boom Boom” wouldn’t sound out of place on a fingerstyle record and Leppin’s cello comes in for a nice counterpart. But the piece takes a quick shift when Pirog enters with a clean, jazzy electric tone and some fluid lines up and down his fretboard. As it closes, there’s an interesting, mellotron-like sound that enters the mix, a nice wrinkle that draws back to 1970s progressive rock and gives listeners a bit of a curveball: what exactly is this record? It’s not the first such stylistic turn here.
A piano kicks off “Fog Curls Around the Cypress,” giving the piece a tonal shift from the string-led songs elsewhere. The slow riff pushes this piece forward as a guitar chimes in as the lead voice with gentle, precise playing. Leppin’s cello enters to finish off the piece and ends it on a darker feeling as her instrument buzzes and fills the space.
But the biggest chance finishes off the first half of this set: “Crystal Wish” dives full on into New Age territory. It opens with an analog-sounding synth riff and Pirog’s thin, piercing guitar tone. While the way he slides around and bends his notes harkens back to earlier on this record, the way it gives to a synth’s wide splash of sound catches one off guard. Suddenly we’re in a different ballpark. From the way his guitar pops in but has enough echo to make you think he’s playing deep in a cave somewhere to the outer space ambience of the keyboards, it feels like something Constance Demby might have whipped up, a kind of music it’s easy to imagine playing over footage of a spaceship cruising between planets. It's quite an effective way to end the first half and almost makes you wish there was more in this style before it, but then maybe it wouldn’t have the same power.
Through the first half, the duo makes music that draws on several genres while never quite confining themselves to one. There are touches of New Age, American Primitive, Post Rock, and more, but they never quite confine themselves to just one at any given moment. Where similar duos like Mary Halvorson and Bill Frisell’s 2018 record The Maid with the Flaxen Hair kept closer to one style, this one sees Pirog and Leppin pushing at each other’s boundaries and keeps listeners off balance.
The second half, however, is a different beast completely: when “Surf the Dead” kicks off with a rock rhythm and Leppin’s singing New Moon in the Evil Age has stepped back from post rock to a quirky sort of indie. The grooves sound thin and wiry, propelled by tinny sounding drums, and the vocals give way to a squealing synth solo. Indeed, throughout the second half the group - at separate points they’re joined by bassist Dev Hoff and percussionist Dr. Ali Analouei - the group mines various styles of indie rock. Both “Sweet and Sour” and “Dream Come Alive” have slow, woozy synth patterns and an ethereal vibe that recalls dream pop; the sparse instrumentation, layered vocals and poppy rhythms on “Evil Age” sound a little like Tennis.
In some ways this second half feels like a mirror reflection of the first: where before the focus was on the instruments and the interplay, this one builds on the similar sounds and textures but instead puts the emphasis on rhythms and vocals. At the same time, it never feels like a fleshed out version of the first half, but more like a complimentary part that shows them exploring pop hooks and a shared interest in indie rock.
But its inclusion here is also a slight tell: the music on the second half feels like it couldn’t stand on its own. Constant slow tempos and heavy use of synths betray the music’s weightlessness: instead of being its own thing, it sounds like a collection of music inspired by the first half. The two halves work in conversation and show a duo that’s attempting to straddle a fine line. Still, it’s sequencing as two related but separate discs helps to play up the first side’s strengths while also showing the weaknesses of the second.
Those who enjoyed the recent Gastr del Sol compilation or the acoustic discs that Tzadik’s been releasing will find a fair amount on the first part to enjoy. And even if the second half does drag occasionally, it does showcase a different side of this duo.
Henry asked me to collaborate with him on a video for his monthly series on the Cuneiform Records’ YouTube channel. I sent him my arrangement of Sonny Sharrock’s “Once Upon a Time” and he overdubbed bass and got Anthony Pirog to play lead guitar and Ramon Goose on Moroccan percussion. Check it out here - Henry’s intro is at 41:21, the tune starts at 44:33
Kreative Kontrol – 385: Fugazi’s Brendan Canty and Joe Lally, Anthony Pirog discuss their band The Messthetics! The Messthetics, featuring Fugazi's Brendan Canty and Joe Lally, and Anthony Pirog of Janel & Anthony, discuss their excellent, self-titled debut album, which is available via Dischord Records.
