Dark Territory (Greenleaf)
Dave Douglas
Released April 16, 2016
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lJlaBnDcY0tU-eaF7VvHNz36QvYGUwrvU
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/23jvrtsdvy0nV04N34UhF4?si=XzXLaerLRg26_PQKYBxp-A
About:
Dark
Territory is a collection of new music from the creative electronic-inspired
ensemble High Risk. Following the success of the group’s eponymous release in
2015, this new album continues to explore the intersection of creative
improvisation and modern electronic music production to create a unique sound
that Pitchfork described as, “simultaneously chill and surprising, it’s the
sound of a group discovering a valid language, and then proceeding to push the
limits of that new aesthetic.”
Lead by two-time GRAMMY® nominated trumpeter Dave Douglas, the album once again
features Jonathan Maron (Groove Collective) on electric and acoustic bass, Mark
Guiliana (Beat Music, Heernt, David Bowie) on electric and acoustic drums and
DJ, producer and beatmaker Shigeto (Ghostly International) on electronics.
The material was recorded by five-time GRAMMY® nominated Geoff Countryman (Dr.
Luke, Patti LaBelle, Wu-Tang Clan, Randy Brecker, Gregory Porter, Fred Hersch)
and mixed by Steve Wall (Semi Precious Weapons, Matisyahu, Meshell
Ndegeocello), and mastered by Mark Wilder.
Track Listing:
1. Celine 06:43
2. All The Pretty Horsepower 07:02
3. Let’s Get One Thing Straight 05:50
4. Mission Acropolis 05:28
5. Ridge Hill 03:55
6. Neural 04:51
7. Loom Large 06:20
Personnel:
Dave Douglas: trumpet
Mark Guiliana: drums
Jonathan Maron: bass
Shigeto: electronics
Recorded by Geoff Countryman at The Bunker, Brooklyn, NY on October 10, 2014
Assistant: Andy Plovnick
Mixed by Steve Wall at Gardentone, Jersey City, NJ.
Mastered by Mark Wilder at Battery Studios, NYC, NY.
Produced by Dave Douglas
Associate Producer: Geoff Countryman
Artwork and Design by Russell Moore
Background photos courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory
All compositions and arrangements by Dave Douglas (Dave Douglas Music / BMI), except “Let’s Get One Thing Straight”, “Mission Acropolis” and “Ridge Hill” by Dave Douglas, Mark Guiliana, Jonathan Maron, Zach Saginaw, and Steve Wall.
Review:
Jazz and electronica merge in thrilling ways in this remote terrain that’s off the radar and close to the danger zone. Based on a phrase used by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to describe a cyber war, this music takes risks.
The kind of edgy, cybernetic jazz that trumpeter Dave Douglas makes with drummer Mark Guiliana (Donny McCaslin Quartet), bassist Jonathan Maron (Groove Collective, Maxwell) and electronics specialist Shigeto (aka Zach Saginaw) successfully marries the lyrical to the chilling, whether in “Celine,” “Let’s Get One Thing Straight” or “Neural,” a showcase for Douglas’ commanding and muscular melodicism.
Douglas and his group High Risk have created something original here. Dark Territory is addictive, and while it wears its influences—Miles Davis, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, hip-hop—on its daring, highly stylized sleeve, it’s also unique.
It can be lyrical, too. “All The Pretty Horsepower” features a pensive statement by Douglas over electronics that sound like marbles skittering across a hardwood floor.
On the scarier side, “Let’s Get,” a tune composed by all members of the group, starts with scratch and wail and heavy breathing; the notes are so saturated with sustain that they seem to bend. The sound escalates as a horn or keyboard—is it Douglas or Shigeto?—furnishes the sonic room.
Douglas continues to push through the morphing soundscape, deploying very few notes to construct a haunting melody that hints at triumph, if not joy.
This group’s second recording is indeed dark; at the same time, it is always questing, always opening. Douglas has said that in “Let’s Get” he wanted the group to create a musical experience that was in the moment, “from one second to the next.”
That high-wire act makes Dark Territory exciting and necessary, as is the case throughout the album.
Carlo Wolff (DownBeat)
