WINGFIELD - REUTER - STAVI - SIRKIS

"The Stonehouse" is an album that comes due to a multinational collaboration, featuring the skills of four renowned musicians. Wingfield, Reuter, Stavi, and Sirkis are masters of their trade, and all are well known musicians at least for insiders. "The Stonehose" is the first album to be created by this quartet, and was released through US label Moonjune Records at the start of 2017.

If you are fond of contemporary jazzrock, then the foursome of Wingfield, Reuter, Stavi and Sirkis have made an album with your name on it. Adventurous, challenging and expressive, but also with passages and sequences of a more tight and harmony oriented nature. This is a case of high quality musicians appearing to have a field day creating material, and if that and the word jazzrock comes across as tantalizing combined, this is a production to seek out.

This is improv at its best!

Sometimes things that come without a strict plan give a truly positive result if the magic comes from people who share what they love in total freedom. This time, Wingfield, Reuter and Sirkis have created a wonderful released entitled Lighthouse, which naturally could remind you of 'The Stone House', but without the support of bass maestro Yaron Stavi because curiously, this session was recorded first though released second. These three musicians offer here 7 improvisations of music that is not easy to classify, but who cares when you are enjoying what you are listening.

'Zinc' is the first track and there is an evident sound of tension during the whole track, but don't get me wrong, the tension is not between the musicians, it lies on the atmosphere that musical freedom of speech produces. The drums are wonderful, delicious and unstoppable, jazzy all the way, while guitars provide that Crimsonian sound that in moments brings chaos. 'Derecho' brings Sirkis explosive drumming, its endless sounds and rhythms keep the listener quite intrigued and waiting for what's next, those drums are in fact hypnotic. The sounds provided by guitar and touch guitar are both amazing but chaotic, creating a complex combo that after 5 minutes slow down a little bit just to re-plan the upcoming passage.

'Ghost Light' is a much calmer improv. Here the guitars bring soundscapes that may allow us to label this song as an ambient one, remembering some of Reuter's solo albums but also that inherent King Crimson influence he has. After the chaos and tension of the first tracks, this one provides deep relaxing moments. So take a breath, close you eyes and enjoy the trip (which is long but pleasant, by the way). Another long track is 'Magnetic', but it is superb! It progresses little by little bringing countless nuances and taking again those jazzy drums blend with the soundscapes and a kind of organ that sounds as background creating a drone atmosphere. Crimsonian guitars appear here and there and the chaos somehow is back.

'A Hand in the Dark' is a much shorter improv and to be honest, I think it is my least favorite track; maybe it had to be longer to reach the depth I needed to get engaged with it. 'Transverse Wave' could have been the second part of its predecessor, but this is to my ears, more interesting and even deep. Wingfield's guitar is soft and smooth, while the touch guitar appears here and there creating a nice relaxing communion. It flows wonderfully and gives us a cool break.

The last track is 'Surge', which despite being the shortest of the album, it is so powerful, jazz-rock-prog improv that make us even shake our heads in some moments. Not my favorite track, but a cool way to finish this amazing blend of improvised textures.

Enjoy it!

Recorded during the same sessions that resulted in the release of the highly critically acclaimed 'Stone House', 'Lighthouse' again finds guitarist Mark Wingfield working with Markus Reuter (touch guitars) and Asaf Sirkis on drums. However, this time they have worked as a trio, so there is no room for bassist Yaron Stavi who appeared on the first album. Recorded in a single day, what we have here are three musicians, all at the very top of their game, who are challenging the preconceived ideas of music, and are bouncing off each other in what must have been an incredibly frenetic and inspiring environment.

Markus most often plays the role of lynch pin, holding the music into some semblance of constraint, while Mark rolls into multiple musical tangents as his fingers and mind wanders, finding their way through the maze of their mind, and then there is Asaf. The man is a multi-joined octopus, who hands and legs obviously do not belong to the same body, and I was intrigued to discover just how many times my attention was being drawn from what many would think was the lead instrument, and was instead marvelling at the complexity and many different styles he was bringing to the party.

This is jazz, it is fusion, it is progressive in its very truest sense, and is totally off the wall. This won't be for everyone, but to my mind and ears there is something incredibly special about this album, where the three of them are improvising both against and with each other, taking their instruments the limit of musicality. A stunning release.

Review originally posted at www.therocktologist.com

This is one of those different albums created by some magical minds that decided to gather together in order to reach complete freedom and find a complement of their tastes, in one single day at the studio. Four musicians from the Moonjune Family spent a day at Spain, united forces and decided to do this album entitled The Stone House, which consists simply in six different improvisations that were recorded one day, while playing without a script, no previous compositions nor rehearsals, so this is the result of a moment of empathy and wizardry in which guitar monsters Mark Wingfield and Markus Stauss, shared affinities with extraordinary bass player Yaron Stavi and awesome drummer Asaf Sirkis.

'Rush' opens the album, it is a 12-minute trip in which we will find from atmospheric sounds, Crimsonian-motifs and rock elements, to jazzy nuances, psych hints and of course, some electronic textures. What the four musicians use to play on their personal projects can be found here, creating a extraordinary amalgam that let us know how capable they are to adapt to each other's likes. The piece never sounds uneven, and all of the musicians have their shot at some moment; no selfishness here. 'Four Moons' is the shortest impro here. The guys delight us with a kind of atmospheric tension that naturally flows. There are some prog hints here and spacey atmospheres, but this time Wingfield's guitar is what more attracted my attention.

'Silver' is one of my preferred pieces, I like how dynamic it is and how well they get along, seems they had been working together for years, actually it sounds like a real composition, so go figure. Didn't find it east to categorize, however, I think prog rock and jazz fusion fans would be pleased with this song and album. No boundaries can be found here, all of the musicians seem to be comfortable with what they do, which is why the music has some crescendos and climax, despite being an improvisation. Amazing! 'Fjords de Catalunya' brings the words ambient and experimental to my mind. It is a softer track but a bit darker at the same time, there are some quiet moments, maybe relaxing, but ironically, maybe disturbing. I imagine the musicians having a moment of introspection, playing with eyes closed and taking a deep breath.

With 'Tarasque' drums play with several figures, producing a kind of nervous sound that is nicely contrasted by soundscapes and guitars. The bass plays some fast notes that in moments sound as nervous as the drums, like chaotic passages in which one does not know what will happen next. The last minutes are strange, some noises and the improvisation simply vanishes. The album finishes with 'Bona Nit Se'or Rovira', which happens to be the longest track. Bass and drums mark the rhythm while guitars put the riffs and the atmospheres. The minutes pass and seem to be a new chaotic passage in which all of them share heavy sounds but then, all of a sudden it calms down and starts again. Calm for some seconds but explosive for most of the moments. The musicians are having fun, playing a nice game of improvisations, but they all are responsible of giving the listener quality sounds and forms, and believe me, they know how to do it. This final track has lots of changes, but I assure your attention will never be lost.

A very good album! This is a nice way to show how 4 minds can create interesting improvisations.

Enjoy it!