January 17, 2019

Malignant clouds in doom times

Jumping onto forbidden borders.

(Although Jamie Saft is best known as a jazz pianist, especially for his work with various Masada projects, he's a rocker at heart; Swami LatePlate -his duo with drummer Bobby Previte- seeks to a degree to cross the divide. In one sense a piano trio, with Saft doubling on electric bass, the project borrows as much from heavy rock sensibilities. Their debut album and the first on Saft's new label Veal, falls closer to the jazz side, but the title indicates the process that got them there.

Using doom -a slow, foreboding style of heavy metal- as a template, the duo crafts a set of songs that creeps along powerfully. The themes are simple, generally carried by subdued bass lines and ornamented by the piano like salt on a glacier. What jumps out most is Previte's drumming. Every cymbal vibration and snare snap leaps to the foreground and, with rare exception, decays before the next strike, as much a testament to Previte's assured playing as Saft's engineering. The sound throughout is bright and super present). 

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