There's always been resilience and versatility in this scene. Given the preconceptions about the rigidity of harDCore, it's worth remembering the diversity here, and the adaptability as well. Zach Barocas, famed drummer for Jawbox, has enlisted a host of players for another record as New Freedom Sound. The music within the grooves is transcendent, broad-minded, and a testament to the skills of the instrumentalists on this release, musicians with lots of connections to lots of D.C.-area projects. Two Freedoms offers up two extended examples of how music can break through genre restrictions while showing the power and adaptability of a host of those most closely associated with the best music this city continues to offer.
"Fourteenth Freedom" opens with interplay between Gordon Withers' cello and vocals from Janet Morgan (Channels). The piece unfolds with a sense of gentle urgency, that cello giving space to viola from Erica Kane. Soon, cornet, and then sax from Mark Cisneros (Hammered Hulls, Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds, Des Demonas, Deathfix, etc.) are sharing space with Lenny Young's oboe and percussive accentuation from Barocas. There's a sonic similarity here to some recent efforts from Angel Bat Dawid, though Barocas and his ensemble are not strictly limiting themselves to jazz idioms. There is repitition, with the voices working up a sort of John Adams-ish fervor around the space where the instrumentalists jostle and spar. There are moments for contemplation amid the sounds, and others where the energy overtakes all. Faint piano from J. Robbins (Jawbox, Office of Future Plans, Channels) punctuates the sonic maelstrom before resolution is achieved.
"Twelfth Freedom" opens with Gordon Withers' cello staking a path forward. Horns from Lenny Young and Mark Cisneros provide bursts of force against the yearning strings. The figures of the oboe and vocals repeat while flute from Cisneros briefly responds. Insistent percussion from Barocas leads the ensemble onward as the horns continue their questioning around the main musical hook. On this piece, Barocas seems to be driving the tune, after the other players have circled around it. Compared to "Fourteenth Freedom", this number is certainly more percussive. Finally, Viol da Gamba from Amy Domingues (Garland of Hours) adds a new flavor to this music, with those warm tones and those of Withers' cello carrying this piece to a contemplative end.
This is big music. I admire the ambition of Barocas as a band leader, and I dig the sense of freedom here to expand composition and form in ways that are not entirely beholden to the expectations of jazz, or ambient, or post-rock, or new classical -- though this has connections to each. The concept of repitition is what fuels the momentum here, almost like a mantra being repeated. The enlightenment comes from a focus on the central idea of each composition, even as multiple instrumentalists add variations of the melody, or boldly put their mark on it as it moves forward. That push-and-pull between the precision of one set of players and the fire of another is what gives this so much focused energy. Even in the space of one piece, a musician who anchored the start may end up the catalyst for change later. That repitition becomes the anchor, the factor which holds this together as the musicians each individually explore their own paths, even while constrained by the structure of the ensemble.
You can order Two Freedoms by Zach Barocas New Freedom Sound here on Bandcamp, or via Sweet Cheetah Records.
[Photo of Zach Barocas: Alex Long; Photos of band members: New Freedom Sound]