Drummer and composer Luke Bainbridge‘s latest project finds him teaming up with vibes player Ralph Wyld, trombonist Kieran McLeod and bassist Huw V Williams and taking a crack at palindromic composition on Petstep for an assembled quartet that is a fascinating combination.
The trombone is taking a punt with which notes will follow which, while the bass is the opposite; smooth, fluid and dizzying in its simple reach. The supple ease and repeated motifs can lull the listener, but they are just as capable of rocking the joint and due to the length of the tracks, they often mutate as they progress.
There is cowbell-inflected momentum in some pieces, the swishing cymbals rushing things on, always creating a safe haven for the others to indulge themselves with motifs that veer and sway, but often return to something familiar. When the bass turns all mellow and smeary, it brings a similar soporific feel to the trombone and vibes, and they drift along in a lazy river of barely present percussion. It is a an idyllic, dreamy skeleton that gradually lets in water as the percussion begins to bubble up. So far, so instrumental with the interplay between the four verging on the supernatural.
Later on in Petstep there is a lovely vibes and bass duet that encapsulates the group approach and contains an almost spiritual feel; and as the album progresses, so these link-ups become more and more natural, with fun definitely being had in picking out the familiar refrains or even those that are — as the song so gleefully states — “you’ll end up finishing where you started”.
The group takes this idea and pushes it to its logical conclusion, seeing how much of a song you can reverse, repeat or replicate without it losing its way. It is a delightful selection, brought vividly to life by musicians who are happy to try anything, it would seem. Petstep is well worth investigation, with more subtleties revealing themselves with further listens.-Mr Olivetti-
