The two big releases of this week for some of us both involve cellist and ensemble leader Janel Leppin. They are both from the esteemed Cuneiform Records. Both feature the duo of Janel Leppin and Anthony Pirog and both expand upon the significant strides already made by this pair on other recordings.
Ensemble Volcanic Ash: To March is to Love finds the players here following Janel Leppin through landscapes both flecked with jazz stylings and ones entirely beyond genre. This is big, bold, brash music that is smart in approach, precise in execution, and fevered in spirit. On opener "Ode to Abdul Wadud", Leppin sets a pace, with the tribute to the legendary cellist anything but morose. Elsehwere, on the broad "As Wide as All Outdoors", Leppin's cello intertwines with the bass of Luke Stewart (Blacks' Myths, Irreversible Entanglements) and the effect is hypnotic, while on the insistent "Union Art" Leppin's instrument finds itself in thrall to the alto sax of Sarah Marie Hughes and the tenor sax of Brian Settles. There's punctuation to that conversation from Stewart's bass and Leppin's cello, and a few squalls from Anthony Pirog's guitar, but the piece has a momentum that most of the selections on Ensemble Volcanic Ash: To March is to Love have.
There's an urgency on "To March is to Love, Pt. II" that is pushed forward by Larry Ferguson's drumming. The ensemble spars at one point, and what was once nearly a march, becomes free jazz. This track is, like the best work from Janel Leppin and this crew, an awakening to chaos, and a musical reckoning with that. The compositions here are orderly but free in the paths being pursued. They are un-jazz-like in that sense, as there's a mission here, almost. The players all have moments where their prowess is revealed, but, ulimately, this is a record where there's a command behind the scenes, and Leppin's hand is sure as the team strides forward into new lands of sound.
The interplay between Anthony Pirog's guitar and Janel Leppin's cello on "Boom Boom" lures you in, though there's plenty of more fiery material within the grooves of New Moon in the Evil Age. This double-album is easily the duo's best offering to date, showcasing as it does the full ranges of each player's powers. "Bells Ring in the Distance", to use another example, takes that interaction between the two and injects hints of chaos, a bit of feedback from Pirog's guitar, and a bit of abrasiveness from Leppin's cello. That undercurrent of menace anchors many of the best pieces here, giving material that is lovely on the surface, a dark, deep power over a listener. The inquisitive and insistent "Rhizome" about the beloved D.C.-area venue, may be the real highlight of at least the first half of this sprawling release. I can think of no better sample of what makes the music of Janel & Anthony so compelling.
The second half of New Moon in the Evil Age features several cuts with vocals from Janel Leppin. These are stylistic departures, of a sort, for the duo, but the tracks work. "Surf the Dead" finds Leppin's voice soaring atop a backing that owes a debt to Kraftwerk, while they rhythms owe much to Can. Elsewhere, "Dreams Come Alive" earns favorable comparisons to peak era Kate Bush, while closer "Find a Way" felt to me like the very early stuff from Sarah McLachlan, before she turned her style into shtick.
I was surprised at how many pieces on New Moon in the Evil Age had vocals, but pleased nevertheless. Janel Leppin has a lovely voice, and the settings and juxtapositions between it and the music creates space for a listener to find meaning and nuance. The use of vocals adds warmth to the material too, and what could be austere is rendered more inviting. Janel & Anthony have lost none of their powers, but have decided instead to broaden their approach. There's so much variety within the genre experiments of New Moon in the Evil Age that I do not hesitate to declare this the best work the pair have ever released under their own name.
Ensemble Volcanic Ash: To March is to Love by Janel Leppin and New Moon in the Evil Age by Janel & Anthony are out today via Cuneiform Records. Details below too.
Janel & Anthony and Ensemble Volcanic Ash are performing tonight at Rhizome, but it's likely sold out.
[Photos courtesy of Cuneiform Records, photo of Janel Leppin uncredited, photo of Janel & Anthony by Shervin Lainez]