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Striving in the infinite Jeff Greinke possesses an esteemed creative identity. His work, so imaginatively crafted, and showing particular expressiveness in its harmonic writing always seems an appreciation of the act of listening and living. The wonderful Late Rain (43:15) is powered by the craft of its excellent ensemble. Next to Greinke's synthesizers, samplers and processing are players Heather Bentley: viola, Greg Campbell: drums, percussion, cornet, French horn, James DeJoie: clarinets, flute, alto sax, and Bill Horist: electric guitar. A story such as the one told throughout Late Rain requires inventive playing. A potent force, remarkable in their reserve, musicians of this subtle character are seldom celebrated. The instruments individually have their own range of distinct manifestations, yet each soloist bears a magical connection to the atmosphere as a whole. Six tracks, six Ambient Adagios, tide pool small yet deep and teeming, leisurely pass into and out of our awareness. One after the other their textural testimony retains the bloom of discovery first found in the live studio sessions in which this album was realized. Counterbalancing Greinke's tendency toward solo seclusion his chamber collaborators travel with him into the ether deliberately and with care - their production remaining so exquisitely balanced that one scarcely notices the constituent parts. Where electric guitar tones and breathing washes of warm chords are contrasted by crossed wires and subtle dream samples, further in sedated woodwinds and strings rise ribbon-like in a lost stare of wordless longing. Multi-layered and lulling this release's long, lush unbroken lines of music absorbs us without offering the excessive eventfulness of more conventional efforts. Signaling new channels of possibility, so that we may look at the world in new ways, or simply drift languidly in reverie Late Rain assuredly resolves in a sonic state of wordless quietude - in an ambitious reach of imagination.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 13 February 2025 |
