Subsonic (2021) by Sebastian Gramss' STATES OF PLAY
States of Play – initiated in 2017 by Sebastian Gramss, award-winning, internationally renowned double bass player and composer – stands for advanced, style-open compositional music with a focus on jazz. A 9-person live band extraordinaire, which carries out the canon of human sensitivities between staged excess, discipline and contemplative breaks.
Subsonic is the name of their new album and it’s a surprising next step for the ensemble. A miracle of expressive, altruistic virtuosity, a peace (of music) on channeled energy. A fourth state of matter. Pure music. Subsonic is - catchy!
The album is a studio production with a wide radius. Clean, precise, warm and sophisticated at the same time. No showmanship.
Perfectionist? Not at all. Jazz? Not only, but a lot. "Modern jazz, but not modern jazz", states band leader Gramss and places Subsonic in a dynamic sphere of influence "from Mingus to Stravinsky, from Kenny Wheeler to Gil Evans."
• In an un-pompous widescreen sound with cinematic undertones, the album opens in the style of Carla Bley with “Sdoelg 21” in 6/8 serpentines.
• The paranoid chill in the texture of “V Eins” (with grunge bass line) doesn't leave your neck throughout the piece.
• The vocal track “Leader Of The Free World” rocks rough and was created during the last US election nights.
• “James” is post-post-industrial New Orleans according to Weill.
• The nightly “E-Jam” comes with a spectacularly delayed brass section and sounds like the art of Anselm Kiefer.
• “Resting”, a long-breathing, orchestral piece of ambient music relaxes without offending the intellect.
The essential naturalness with which this in and of itself extraordinary, demanding music appears, makes it unusually easy to access.
Subsonic is sincere, stimulating, and full of beauty.
What the world needs now: contemporary music.
Tracklist
| 1. | Intro | 0:55 |
| 2. | Sdoelg 21 | 6:06 |
| 3. | Soffermiamoci Part 1 | 3:36 |
| 4. | V Eins | 4:05 |
| 5. | M Drei | 4:44 |
| 6. | Fleisch | 1:59 |
| 7. | E Jam | 8:38 |
| 8. | H Plus X | 1:28 |
| 9. | Leader of the Free World | 6:07 |
| 10. | Soffermiamoci Part 2 | 2:35 |
| 11. | Ballad XY | 4:32 |
| 12. | Sleepy | 0:32 |
| 13. | James | 2:57 |
| 14. | New Ballad | 4:14 |
| 15. | Resting | 4:46 |
Credits
Shannon Barnett – Trombone, Vocals
Valentin Garvie – Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet
Hayden Chisholm – Saxophone, Flute
Nicola L. Hein – E-Guitar
Dominik Mahnig – Drums, Percussion
Etienne Nillesen – Prepared Snare, Percussion
Philip Zoubek – Prepared Piano, Moog
Sebastian Gramss – Double bass, Aditional Colours
Christian Lorenzen – Keyboards, Moog, Synth
Music composed by Sebastian Gramss
except Track 8 by Gramss, Chisholm and Track 9 by Gramss, Barnett, Lorenzen
Label: Rent A Dog
Produced by Sebastian Gramss & Ana Lakčević
Recorded by Jörn Nettingsmeier at FATTORIA MUSICA - Osnabrück in November 2020
Mixed and Mastered by Reinhard Kobialka / TOPAZ (Cologne)
Recording Assistant: Stephan von Wylick
Layout by Werbeagentur Witte
License
All rights reserved.Tags
Orchestral moments á la Ellington and Mingus, Zappa-esque allusions and sonic avant-garde: the essential anatomy of music is broken down to its core elements and repeatedly reassembled in an explosive multiplicity. The result is a multidimensional and shifting music that evolves in an organic flow, continually forming new configurations.