NYC improvisatory group, NOUS, will be following their eclectic debut, NOUS I: A Musical Rite, with NOUS II, arriving December 1st, 2019 through Our Silent Canvas, and featuring a very impressive lineup of musicians, such as the project's founder Christopher Bono (Ghost Against Ghost), together with Greg Fox (Uniform, Liturgy), Shahzad Ismaily (Ex Eye), Thor Harris (Swans) and Grey McMurray (itsnotyouitsme).
This time the band's approach leans in favor of organic melody, slanted toward the methodical breakdown of the post rock truisms and the genre's smooth intermingling with classical music, ambiance and groove-inclined experimentation, drawing influence from minimalists like Terry Riley, and getting the best out of it. The eight-minute autoschediasm of Here In My Chest It Is What It Is, finds NOUS skillfully moving around structures and motifs, creating something that defies definitions, but at the same times sounding familiar, methodical and refined.
The release's statement reveals: "Here In My Chest It Is What It Is was presented to the musicians as a series of short cellular musical ideas that they were suggested to play within a set amount of time, but then could move forward and backwards through the ideas based on the intuition of the player in the musical moment."
Self-aware and spontaneous, NOUS II emerges as another display of the empirical musicianship this notable group of players has to offer, revealing that there's is a whole lot of ideas left to explore in their improvisational ways.
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oursilentcanvas.org
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