Recording: Luscar

Artist: Luscar

Songs: Hackle [composer: Robert Diack] / Improvisation / Etude 178 [composer: Emily Denison]^*

Recorded at Array Space (Somewhere There presents), April 13, 2016.

Luscar - Hackle / Improvisation/ Etude 178

It's been exciting to see this cadre of younger players — many of whom are familiar to each other through music studies at U of T — making their presence known at recent Somewhere There events, both in the crowd and increasingly on stage as well. This group isn't afraid to get noisy, and after Solon Gee's echo-ringing disruptive intro, everyone starts chopping away. That the subtleties of the compositions are pushed aside a bit as the group bashed through the pieces isn't something to complain about — if anything, I'm quite happy that these musicians, all of whom with chops to spare, aren't settling for something merely "tasteful". (That was reaffirmed in the set's final piece, an ambitiously absurd love song from Anthony Argatoff called "Burrito Girl" that featured vocalist Laura Swankey in a high-shrieking duet with Argatoff's sax.)

^* Thanks to Andrew for passing along the titles to these!