MOUNT ANALOGUE

I certainly feel lazy, guilty even, by adding my tiny voice to the host of others describing John Zorn's Mount Analogue as 'mysterious' ' but that's the feel the music gives me.

Setting aside the impetus of the surrealist novel of the same name, this is indeed enigmatic music. A sense of the unknown is evoked when you listen to its single track, the music pulls you along a near forty minute trip through South American jungles, rivers, mountains and caves. Or so it does when I hear it.

Once again, much has been said of the accessibility of this release, and when compared to some of Zorn's other works, it is at that. At times it's downright pleasant and soothing, beautiful. In other passages there is a sense of menace that never really gets too dark, accented by percussive thumps and at times, harsh or unsettling chanting. But there's such a lightness to the music elsewhere, whether it comes from the variety of bells or the vibes, or piano in the opening minutes, it's there. (And by 'light' I don't mean to suggest that it has no depth.)

And so what does it actually sound like? World music, definitely, jazz, certainly, the Latin and folk genres, yep and yep. Not a lot of what might be termed more traditional guitar-based prog however, but it's still progressive should you be concerned about genre. But more useful perhaps, would be to come back to that word, 'mysterious.' At times this music sounds like it would fit the discovery of a thousand-year old Temple, or maybe be played during a Shaman's dance. But just have a listen and see what you get, the music is certainly capable of suggesting other images.

On Mount Analogue John Zorn composes and has the Cyro Baptista Banquet of the Spirits quartet perform the work. Kenny Wollesen's vibes in particular play a vital role in establishing and changing mood with suddenness or subtlety as required, deserving of much credit. Perhaps the other standout for me in terms of performance, which was more of a personal favourite, was the organ. Throughout, Marsella does exactly what's needed (as he does on piano too for that matter) and I found myself seeking it out probably more often than any number of interesting percussive instruments or the strings of the oud.

In short, I loved it.

4.5 stars. John Zorn has already released five studio albums this year but lets talk about one of his 2012 recordings called "Mount Analogue". This is one long 38 plus minute suite performed by five very talented musicians who all add vocals. There is actually no singing but we get these vocal expressions that bring ART ZOYD to mind, disturbing and deep growls almost. We have a Brazilian percussionist who has played with ELECTRIC MASADA and THE NILES CLINE SINGERS, the vibes player is American and played with ELECTRIC MASADA while the drummer is American also playing an African drum called a calabash. An American keyboardist adds piano and organ and played with THE NILES CLINE SINGERS and lastly the American bass player a graduate of Berkley and he also went to Israel to learn stuff. He plays a skin covered three stringed bass called a gimbri as well as an oud plus of course his normal bass setup.

He was also on 2017's "Interpretation Of Dreams" by Zorn and that one I recently reviewed and it really set me up for this album. That 2017 album is much more stripped down as we get bass, drums and vibes only on two tracks while a string quartet and piano are all we get for the other song. I was so drawn to that record surprisingly. This one even more because it is more adventerous and involves many more instruments overall. We still get those warm vibes but along with them it's the piano leading the way much of the time while the bass and drums support. More percussion sounds too along with those ethnic instruments but very much in the style of "Interpretation Of Dreams". I also like how much atmosphere is on here usually from the cymbals or organ.

And while this can be sophisticated and fancy it clearly has moments that are dark and disturbing(vocals). This flows beautifully and changes often but seamlessly blends into each section. I'm not going to describe the ride because it's a long one but man I looked forward to putting this on when it was it's turn last week. We all know Zorn is a musical genius and he sure likes the extreme so this is like a slice of musical heaven to be honest. Space to breathe yet he changes it up enough to have me looking forward to his next move. Simply an inspirational recording.