Ron Caines / Martin Archer AXIS — Practical Dreamers

Practical Dreamers is a seven-track electroacoustic/ improv jazz album. It’s a release that shifts ‘n’ swirls between the abstract & sound layer shifting, onto the more harmonic and atmospheric fare- all making for a rewardingly unpredictable release, which offers up surprises/ shifts even on the single-track level.

The release is led up by/centred around  Ron Caines – alto and soprano saxophones. And Martin Archer – bass and Bb clarinets, flute, tuned percussion, electronics, whistles, and harmonica. With sonic support from Hervé Perez – laptop, sound processing. Laura Cole – piano. Anton Hunter – electric guitar, electronics. Michael Bardon – cello. Gus Garside – double bass. Johnny Hunter – drums.

Each of the seven tracks feature runtimes between five and eleven minutes- with each track (largely) balancing well the more abstract/experimental elements with the more harmonic/ atmospheric tones.

 We move from “Practical Dreamers- Part Two” which opens up with a blend of moody film noir like piano key darts, cinematic bass brood plods, and baying/ wailing horns. As we progress we get Frisell-like guitar tolls and twangs, electro-captured darting key tolls, and swelling ‘n’ ebb subtle electro-tone shifts and darts.  With “Practical Dreamers- Part Four” we find a dense and slowly shifting mesh of moody honks, electro blips ‘n’ blobs, brooding guitar raw ‘n’ simmer, and dotting tone/ key work.

Moving onto the second side we have “Practical Dreamers- Part Six” which opens electro bird twitter, gentle ethnic percussive fumbles, and sweeping siren wave shrillness. As things progress shifting/ swaying axis of both piano and horn appear- with this rather neat almost groove-like bass & percussion appearing for a time, as well as creepy electro-stretched groans. The album plays out with “Practical Dreamers-part seven” which opens with harmonic-edged horn trails & percussive scraping ‘n’ scuttling. Before later striping back to creaks, fumbles, and darts- as the track plays out.

Practical Dreamers is a rewarding and eventful journey into improvised jazz and electroacoustic- often managing to blend ‘n’ blur the abstract with the harmonic. To find out more drop by here to score a copy.