The Thing — Shake
I'm already familiar with Gustafsson's challengingly fierce and abstract, yet discernably emotive and cathartic music, having listened to his solo tour de force "Bengt" from 2012. The throaty, formidable squawk of his tone is not unlike the raspy howl of an aging blues singer, containing in its rattling imperfections its own special soul. I enjoy him for his tendency to highlight the luminous harmonics emerging from his instrument, his ability to become thoughtless within the process of expression and simply sing the note that must be sung, often thoroughly exploring the emotion of a small pocket of notes, returning as most music does to that home pitch, the drone.
The other two musicians are new to me. It would seem they neither encourage Gustafsson's wildness nor tame it, as the fairly even ratio of melody to abstract noise texturing does not differ from his other work. Nilssen-Love's drumming is both busy and powerful, a furious eruption of fills that finds the correct accents whenever a riff emerges, a highly aggressive and penetrating style which takes as much from rock as any form of jazz, and gives the band a 'heavy' sound. The bass player adopts a doom metal fuzz distortion and hits those satisfying pentatonic roots when appropriate, such as in side C opener "Aim". This album is further evidence of a growing alliance between the worlds of improvised rock and jazz, always spiritually similar.
Dancing with smooth, controlled movements between stormy flurries of drum solo and unison melodic ostinatos from the bass and sax, the band brings out the rhythmic cleverness and melancholic, reflective intelligence of hard bop. The style of melody found on this album certainly owes itself to the great 60's modal music. They enjoy jamming on simple 2 bar syncopations and ostinati, over which Gustafsson delivers wailing solos, all bends and pained growls.
The music may be improvised, but doesn't feel structureless, and rarely remains disorienting for long. Gustafsson ensures the group remains thoroughly tied to blues scales that form the foundation of jazz. The pacing of the band's music is quick, but easily followed and engaged with. Skillful manipulation of momentum, and smooth transitioning from one type of sound to the next give the album the feel of a great live gig.
I have always felt that the most chaotic aspects of avant garde could appear side by side with melodic music, and that in fact, doing so may improve both styles. Experimentalism ceases to mean much when it becomes a requirement to eschew all sounds commonly known to hold emotion. Albums like The Thing's "Shake" are evidence of that perfect fusion, a whirlwind of noise that becomes a roaring groove and singable melody, then crashes into turmoil again. I will certainly have to listen to some of this band's long back catalogue.