Matta Gawa
Tambora
New Atlantis Records
www.sundmagi.com

Fusing improvisational material made on the spur of the moment and experimental rock places Tambora from Matta Gawa on the threshold of progressive jazz. The duo’s sophomore release is the follow up to their debut recording Ba, and features ad hoc intervals affecting the direction of the chord progressions into a series of ever-changing mutations. Named after the Indonesian stratovolcano that blocked the sun in the year 1815, Matta Gawa’s drummer Sam Lohman and guitarist Edward Ricart push the limits of the avant garde with challenging time signatures and complicated chord structures.

The slow and fluid expressions of “Navagraha” project a thoughtful mood, which asserts bouts of volcanic eruptions, piercing guitar distortions and vibrating squiggles along “Position” cloaked in a psychedelic shading reminiscent of stoner metal. The volatile gait of the impulses etched along “Vesta” permeate a sense of deep concentration as cuts are plotted from living in the moment of the creation. The sonic fragments of the title track move in erratic patterns like crazed and enraged embers emanating from the recesses of the mind, while the gentle twists of “Musth” are both relaxed and intense tweaked by sharp spikes and tingling fretwork. The shifts in the cadence keeling “Sky” infuse voluminous dynamics that change the sonic patterns in size and shape and adjust to an undertow of resounding cymbals worked into “Ephemerides” as a combination of long and curt notes seam “Heron.”

Matta Gawa toy with the dynamics in their compositions snaking the chord progressions and producing a jostling scheme that shifts from laid back to enraged depending on the surge of energy affecting the movements. Contemporary and original, Tambora pursues every jazz musicians dream of finding music that speaks to them.

Musicians:
Sam Lohman – drums and Edward Ricart – guitar

Tracklisting:
Navagraha, Position, Vesta, Tambora, Musth, Sky, Ephemerides, Heron