Reviews 358: Aaron Space & His Terrestrial Underlings
Fishland by Aaron Space & His Terrestrial Underlings, which was recently released by Moon Glyph, is one of the most singular and thrillingly individualistic albums I have ever heard and features main man Elihu Knowles and a handful of collaborators crafting a kaleidoscopic and completely gonzo amalgam of big band jazz, experimental collage, bass-laced trip hop, vaudevillian excess, Hollywood golden age romance, psychedelic pop, and classical soul and R&B. Each and every song evolves according to Elihu’s own enigmatic dream logic, with the colorful layerings of voice, piano, bass, guitar, sax, and drums flowing into and out of miasmic bodies of drone and subsuming expanses of free jazz intensity, resulting in rare album that sounds like almost nothing else out there. The whole experience is flamboyantly self-assured, which is all the more remarkable given that this is the debut release from Elihu—a composer, drummer, and vocalist residing in and around Portland and the Bay Area. And it’s his role as a vocalist that especially shines and helps push Fishland into the stratosphere, for the maximalist, free-form, and exploratory compositions are guided by a breathtaking croon…a voice so unique and idiosyncratic, so beautiful and warming…which across Fishland’s length, evokes for me singers as varied as Thom Yorke, Isaac Brock, Elton John, Tracy Chapman, Nelly Furtado, Louis Armstrong, and YlangYlang, just to name a few.
Aaron Space & His Terrestrial Underlings - Fishland (Moon Glyph, 2020) In “Aaran Space Speaks”, e-pianos lullabies waft towards bluesy psych and fusion…like the spirits of Herbie Hancock and Rick Wright wandering the cosmos. The titular Aaron Space speaks overtop, with a voice sourced from an answering machine message yet landing with a calming, almost anodyne effect, bringing to mind HAL 9000 as it threads through the blissful e-piano dreamscapes. But soon, the stereo field begins swelling with outer-dimensional broadcasts, bubbles of bass, splattered free jazz drums, and cymbals that twitch like insect wings while the pianos grow ever more dense and celestial. And so it goes for the rest of the track…a sort of drunken back and forth between spaced out Rhodes mesmerism and freeform jazz cacophony, with occasional reprises of soothing android speech. “Zellerbach” follows with buried kick drums locked into a heroin waltz and cymbals blurring into spectral smoke clouds. Unidentifiable melodies help bolster the woozy dreamscape as Elihu croons overhead, with his sensual whisper accented by falsetto harmonies that flutter through a background tapestry of post-classical fantasy. All of a sudden, the mix sweeps upwards towards an exploding sky, with clouds parting and raining down strings sourced from the golden age of Hollywood, which saw drunkenly behind the increasingly desperate vocalisms as they transition from emotive croon towards a pained howl…all while drums beat through hazes of blackened fog and land upon the body like vapor. Returning to the desolate verse, oceanic bubble strands rising through dense fogs of loneliness and sorrow as Elihu’s vocals grow increasingly sleepy-eyed and stoned out, almost fading away altogether before psychosonic gurgles signal another eruption towards operatic darkness, wherein sampled orchestras careen beneath haunted vocal reveries, which themselves occasionally transmute through layers of echo destruction. And towards the end, the vibe changes completely, with mystical psaltery runs and low slung trip hop beats supporting a looped vocal refrain, which repeats “you see” as everything slowly devolves into molecular mist.
Spliced conversations, sirens, and horror howls introduce “Slow (Fast)” as brushed snares and chime sparkles join the shadowy bass ambulations of Quinn Girard. Droning riffs repeat in the distance and Elihu mumbles and murmurs over the layers of abstracted ambient lounge jazz, with his vocals growing ever more expressive as further textures pile on and push the mix towards claustrophobia...the whole thing reminding me of Holy Sons, or even Tom Waits. The rhythms disperse into haze of cymbal splashing while the vocals continue their exploratory musings, which are backed by gaseous choirs awash in 60s psychedelia. As the smokey lounge groove returns, the singing erupts towards anguish as harmonizing overdubs flow in, with radiophonic echo fx kissing the decay. Vibraphones shimmer in the moonlight during another beatless stretch while lullaby lyricisms dance over streaks of fusion synthesis and eventually, all that remains are breathtaking vocal shades and unsettled drone whispers, with one final ascent towards aquatic mystery preceding a fade to nothingness. “Stome Soup” comes alive on amp buzz and ticking, as a lackadaisical chant of what seems to be “green grass and blue skies / green grass I love life” repeats. Dusty hip hop beats emerge alongside liquid piano scats, with thumping kick drums and rimshots sitting over weirdo guitar motions that see clustering solos leading to puffs of sub bass smoke. Then comes a saxophone performance from Hayden Dekker awash in pure sunshine radiance, with joyous solo lines and warming melodies eventually giving way to Elihu’s earworm vocal hooks, which implore you to “smile at the sun” amongst other daydream spells that brilliantly cut the difference between jazz scat and beat poetry. Nikhil Wadhwa’s guitars scratch out bluesy nothings, his freakadelic wah-wah solos evoke acid fusion, a bicycle wheel rotates and clicks at varied speeds, and smatters of piano from Daniel Woodruff flow around the scale, rarely playing melodies that have anything to do with the rest of the track. And as the sax locks into a hypnotizing descent, the mix is increasingly smothered by whooshes of psychedelic wind and clouds of self-oscillating echo madness.
The A-side ends with the gentle piano and voice balladry of “Fishland,” which kisses a performance of resonant emotionality with subdued touches of psychedelia, as reedy hisses swell in the distance and seed shakers transmute into a percussive whisper. Piano and voice swell together, cymbals crash, and big bursts of sub-bass float the soul…all while abstract reed sounds resolve into a white noise scream. At times, subtle synthesizer solos are heard dancing beneath the mysterious piano reveries—which move between heavy chord drama and springtide breeziness—and certain notes are trapped by animalistic fx chains as they reverse and echomorph into labored breath. Shards of laser light and subsonic rumbles underly further ascents toward the clouds, with thunderclaps leading to an all-too-brief climax of pounding bass and cascading cymbals while unintelligible satellite broadcasts are destroyed in real time. And the whole thing is fantastically unsettled, especially as the vocals periodically abandon their spiritual croon for pained tones of heartache. The B-side opens with an interlude entitled “Cat Corner,” which features pianos and conversational musings on pancakes, sodas, and pizza that pitch-shift across the spectrum. Then in “You Are (What You Eat),” a quivering bass drum anchors rimshot clacks while clouds of subsonic vibration diffuse through the stereo field. Elihu sings like a falsetto angel through it all, with shadowy structures of Burial-esque bass music refusing to settle in, and momentary grooves emerge only to be buried by black hole energies and ghostly vocal incantations. Crazed typewriter fx swim through the mix, bells ring out, and cymbals swell until suddenly, the beat hits with a fully formed shape, now locking into a mutating glide of broken beat bass and 90s R&B while the soaring vocal desperations call to mind Sigur Rós. But the effect is momentary and this climax fades away all too quickly, as hi-hat hisses and delayed drums dissolve beneath feverish vocal smears that progressively transform into a mutant scream. And by the end, all that remains are industrial loops…these wet layers of sound cycling eternally over flowing bass fluids.
“Fast (Slow)” references “Slow (Fast)” in both title and vibe and begins with samples of JFK being sworn in overlaid by a ghostly piano performance—the effect not unlike Godspeed You! Black Emperor. But soon we are pulled firmly into Elihu’s polychromatic world as feathery pixie voices and light snaps of acoustic psychedelia intermingle before the whole thing gives way to dreamscape piano arpeggiations, which percolate through an etheric ocean. The vocals croon majestically and bring shades of the orchestral balladry of Muse’s Absolution while reversing electro-effects evoke the metallic wing flutters of machine-based insects. The mix grows increasingly strange as thick swells of bass chord droning surround ticking textures and other unidentifiable detritus and at certain moments, Elihu’s voice grows dissonant and vaguely snotty. But eventually, we work back towards star ocean dreamspells and reversing wisps of rainbow light, until it all devoles into a coda of unsettled ambiance, with vocals and lasers looping intensely and glowing blue mists decaying into the void. In “Where’s Frankie?,” beauteous swells of sonic shimmer break down into fluttering echo garbles while percussive clacks swim in a sea of delay. Computronic funk electronics smear into fractal splatter and field recordings call to mind both insects and the sounds some exo-planetary pig creature as it routs around the brush. And as the track progresses, its melodious swells of decaying dream magic eventually disperse, leaving behind the un-sourceable sounds of alien flora and fauna. Closing track “Stone Soup / Homer” first calls back to “Stome Soup” by dropping us again into the most chaotic and deliriously psychedelic section of that jazz pop epic, but eventually this all fades away, leaving behind the soulful blues piano meditations of “Homer.” Lush chords and paradise leads converse and the playing grows energetic—even manic—at times, as asymmetrical waterfalls of post-classical mesmerism and chord strokes awash in child like nostalgia give way to low down bass riffs, cosmic cluster chords, and bebop flights of fancy, with everything floating on sustain pedal ambiance.
(images from my personal copy)
