Members of Oh Sees, TV on the Radio, and other notable musicians have formed an experimental jazz ensemble and will release a debut album, Bent Arcana. The group has released “The Gate”, the first single off a self-titled debut album due out on August 21st via Castle Face.
The group is spearheaded by Oh Sees founder John Dwyer, alongside Tom Dolas (keys) and Brad Caulkins (saxophone), two musicians who exist on Oh Sees’ periphery. The band also features Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio (modular synthesizer), Ryan Saw, Marcos Rodriguez of Prettiest Eyes (guitar), Laena “Geronimo” Myers-Ionita of Feels (violin), Joce Soubiran (tenor sax), and Flying Lotus associate Andres Renteria (percussion).
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“The Gate” immediately establishes what will be the tone of Bent Arcana with a 10-minute jazz jaunt through multiple moods. With such an extensive lineup featuring an array of talented musicians, one might expect a freight-train of sound, with one instrument playing directly overtop of one another. In reality, “The Gate” is both weighted and grounded, and the 10 minute run time allows for each musician to say his or her piece, before returning to the fold and yielding the floor to another speaker. Dwyer said of the new group,
Bent Arcana is the inceptive chapter in what I hope to be several releases showcasing these types of off-the-cuff musical compositions. So you can try your fry on and turn off. This one is very much on the ECM / 70s hard fusion / prog-kraut tip. It is a many pronged weapon, swung by the spontaneous sentinel.
Listen to “The Gate” from the upcoming experimental album Bent Arcana.
John Dwyer, Ryan Sawyer, Peter Kerlin, Tom Dolas, Brad Caulkins, Kyp Malone & Marcos Rodriguez — “The Gate”
Check out the full tracklisting for Bent Arcana, available everywhere on August 21st.
[H/T Consequence of Sound]