Betrayal
is the third album from
Enemy
, an avant trio composed of pianist/organist
Kit Downes
, bassist
Petter Eldh
, and veteran drummer
James Maddren
. Their eponymous debut appeared from
Edition
in 2018 and took the British jazz world by storm for its interlocking harmonies and rhythms.
Vermillion
was issued by
ECM
in 2022 and credited to the trio's members individually. It was celebrated for its compelling procedural in 21st century chamber jazz.
, issued by
WeJazz
, does provide ghost traces of the musical terrain explored on earlier recordings, but for several reasons this is an entirely different method of recording: it showcases drama and eclectic lyricism in advanced musical strategies.
These 12 works were alternately composed by
Downes
and
Eldh
, and recorded, remarkably, in a single day. The set was edited, produced, and mixed by the trio as well. It couldn't sound more different from
. While the earlier album bore the distinct
signature of a sparse mix, silence, lush reverb, and echo, this is a complex collision of rhythm and harmony, with contrasting elements put into service to create a new musical vocabulary.
The breaking snare intro on opener "Croydon Smash" is introduced by
's upright bass playing plectrum chords in duet with
Maddren
. When
enters, his playing is notated organically with clipped, blocky, chordal vamps that don't expose a melodic component but a harmonically rhythmic theme. "Hollywood Bypass" weaves snatches of classic film themes and lullabies using serial harmonic exploration around a pulsing snare and hi-hat colored by
's deftly placed basslines.
threads in a canny solo, bridging various lyric themes and transcending them. "Sun" weds a scorching bop motif played by
under
' complex improvising. While seeking to complete the statement the rhythm section articulates, he turns it inside-out, revealing another harmonic idea that's just coming to him. "Morfar Sixten" showcases the trio's sensitive side. The fluid intensity of bass and drums in this midtempo ballad creates a rather large tonal palette.
' intuitive playing embraces the encountered harmony just before subverting it and creating something far more intricate in its exposition. "Fiend" is the set's hinge track. Its lyricism is sublime as interlocking vamps ratchet up the intensity before evolving very gradually into a nearly pastoral electronic drone;
underscores it all with a frenetic bop solo. "Croydon Shuffle" references its earlier cousin expressionistically, with implied vamps and tonal themes in a pastoral direction, stretching the tune's time signature to the breaking point. Closer "Harmony of 3" deftly takes on post-bop harmony, rhythmic interplay, and acoustic dynamics in creating a dramatic whole. Piano and bass entwine with one another as
blankets them in rhythmic invention.
's earlier outings offered compelling portraits of the trio's abundant musicality.
, with furious creativity, offers poly-harmonic melodies, locked-in rhythms, floating dynamics, and textural tension. As an album, it illustrates the complexity, vision, and reward in
's unusual approach to the jazz piano trio. ~ Thom Jurek