Now, under normal circumstances a seventeen-string bass and a press release that reads like a scientific manuscript would be enough to have me running for the hills. Yet, such an evacuation would be a silly mistake here as this record from US trio Enneads is an absolute gem. A lush bathing in harmonics, drone-like mesmerism, and ethereal wonderment, this is a record that will appeal to both jazz heads looking to out-Wire The Wire, and old-school Tortoise fans who take great joy in untangling the minutiae of the sonic weave.
Hudson Valley residents Zach Layton, Hamir Atwal, and Phyllis Chen have painstakingly thought this record out, second by second, millisecond by millisecond. This is as far from some lyrics written down on the back of a fag packet in a dingy backstreet pub as you can get. I can imagine they wore white overalls and medical gloves in the recording studio – hell, Layton is an actual scientist. The premise? Well, in layman’s terms this is a record that looks into the world of overtones – that higher almost transparent ‘ring’ you get when you sometimes fumble a chord and unexpectedly hit a harmonic. It’s neither here nor there in terms of both presence or impact, it’s almost a ghostly prescence, an otherworldly pitch that your ears are drawn too like bees to honey.
These guys use that harmonic sound as their centrepiece for both composition and improvisation. On the opening couple of tracks it takes a more drone-like effect not a million miles away from those great late 90’s post rock records by likes of Bark Psychosis or more so, Robert Hampson’s (Loop) experimental Main project. Yet, as the record develops – and maybe it’s just because our ears are becoming more tuned to what we are hearing, somewhat of a deeper listening experience perhaps – it becomes restful, quietly welcoming and familiar. ‘Ananke’ feels decidedly spiritual, ‘Pathos’ a brilliantly evolving groove that evokes the sort of thing Moin are doing here in the UK. Whereas ‘Kairos’ is probably the most ‘jazz’ track here, Atwal really stirring up a percussive storm, the closing ‘Apeiron’ taken from the Greek word meaning infinite, is perhaps the album’s most persuasive argument in the case for the aforementioned deep listening with Layton’s bass, caustic and fertile, sounding like it could split mountains given a chance.
The overriding experience here is one of movement and discovery. These tracks provide a sonic journey into a world that is often just fleetingly visited or fumbled upon. These guys set up camp and just relish the discovery. You’d need a lengthy lecture to really get to grips with all the ideas and processes here to be honest. For now just grab a copy and let it hang in the air for a while as it slowly permeates the heart and head. Wonderful!
Enneads: Bandcamp
Zach Layton – Website | Instagram / Phyllis Chen – Website | Instagram / Hamir Atwal – Instagram
Review by Del Day
Del Day is proprietor of independent record shop Union Music Store in Lewes, DJ (Songs From The Ark) and journalist with published work in Shindig, JazzReview, CMP, Groovy Times, Americana-UK and others
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