Khari "Contour" Lucas
' fascinating path has been marked by the respected artists and labels with whom the Charleston-based musician has worked -- from
Niecy Blues
,
Loraine James
, and
Omari Jazz
, to
Touching Bass
RVNG Intl.
Nonesuch
. It heads in another direction on
Take Off from Mercy
, a
Mexican Summer
release that could be called the second full-length
Contour
recording. The follow-up to the investigative and collage-like
Onwards!
, it also trailed
Reflections, Vol. 2: Black Decelerant
, a hybrid ambient/jazz offering from
Lucas
and
ROBESO¿
, on which
and pianist
John Bitoy
joined operatic bass-baritone singer
Davóne Tines
. While this too is collaborative, assisted by
Mndsgn
Salami Rose Joe Louis
Saul Williams
, it is intensely intimate and starker in relation to
The qualities are apparent from the opening moment, where
makes a plaintive demand, just barely audible, amid entangled bass and guitar lines. He's in a desperate, stupefied state, unable to remain upright. Nonetheless, he's able to stabilize himself for 40 minutes of therapeutic musical bloodletting. His quavering voice recites poetic lyrics of unease that examine intrapersonal, interpersonal, and societal dynamics, while his music is a slow-motion swirl of jazz, blues, soul, avant hip-hop, ambient techno, and psychedelic rock. These ballads sometimes sound improvised and also dubbed out on the fly, at times resembling an unlikely link between
David Sylvian
's
Blemish
Keith Hudson
Flesh of My Skin Blood of My Blood
. Lines packed with detail and wordplay are abundant, yet what's more remarkable is how the plain expressions are just as heavy in meaning. In "(re)Turn," one of few songs with a rhythm indicating forward motion instead of stasis,
reasons and questions, faint if measured, until the drums drop out and reappear in gummed-up form as he makes one of the album's many allusions to instability and displacement: "Fall asleep at the wheel again/Guess I'm lucky I made it home/I don't know if I'd call it that." A struggle to connect, another feeling often sensed, at least ends temporarily in the muffled thumps of the closing "For Ocean."
is in front of the stage instead of on it, admiring a performer he feels is "not heavenly but on this plane with me." He sounds like he's receiving direct sunlight on permafrost. ~ Andy Kellman