The Breakdown
Constellation Records have long provided a portal for the extraordinary experimental music which orbits around their Montreal home base, but here we have them opening the apertures and focusing in on a gem from the city’s jazz/improv scene. Bellbirdare a quartet of players who gelled jamming in Covid times, formalised things at the 2021 Ottawa Jazz Fest and put out their attention-grabbing debut, ‘Root In Tandem’, a couple of years later. Now with Constellation releasing the follow up ‘The Call’, this cross-cutting foursome look set to fly further afield.
Bellbird’s line up has a sonic symmetry about it, two saxes out front (Alison Burik /Alto and Claire Devlin /Tenor) with Eli Davidovici’s bass and Mili Hong on drums setting the rhythmic foundations. Still, nothing should be presumed about this group. Bellbird’s music gathers energy from contemporary jazz, neo classical, improv, minimalism and post rock to find its own trajectory.
The album announces itself with the pure tone sax chimes and a rustle from the rhythm section for Firefly Pharology. It’s as if the workings of the band are gathering energy because soon they are locked into a pumping pulse, the twin horns sometimes clutched in harmony at other moments bouncing playfully off each other. As the track beams out purposefully, Bellbird as a unit switch signals without a flicker. From a full powered bop rush to a cymbal soaked calm then a final bonding around an ethio-toned riff, there’s an alinement here which feels so natural.
A sharp intake of breath, one note and a snare snap continues the flow with Murmuration. Memories of the ground-breaking post-bop punk jazz definers The Lounge Lizards or Polar Bear get stirred by this track’s unpredictable, almost quirky shifts in pace and structure. In parts a Burik/Devlin simple sax phrase acts as the anchor while bass and drums run free but then the roles are reversed. It’s as if the tune can turn itself inside out yet still maintain the momentum.
This balance between spontaneity and organisation is impressive throughout ‘The Call’. There’s an internal intuition about Bellbird that’s grown from their first informal Montreal scene meet-ups and it shows on this sophomore album. Significantly all the tunes on their latest are joint compositions whereas each member took credit for different cuts on their ‘Roots In Tandem’ debut. Unsurprisingly this brings a cohesion to ‘The Call’ which runs through the whole album and keeps even the more complex tunes in focus.
So a cut like Eternity Perspective can unravel but keep the overall Bellbird destination in sight. Starting loosely with an ethereal drift about it, the clarinet, bowed bass and sombre sax tones cast a woozy chill over Hong’s light funky beats. The song’s trajectory roller coasters from here, the dovetailing Devlin/ Burik saxes swooning with melody, a nimble bass solo skipping over an agitated broken beat and a finale which soars with a power-ballad-esque drama. As the ride steadies and the pulse smooths, you sense the rumble of wildlife in the distance.
Such natural sonics highlight the narrative thrust which energises Bellbird’s music on ‘The Call’. Much of the writing happened with the band isolated in a forest-surrounded studio in Orford, Quebec. This setting fed the story they wanted this album to tell, their connection with the natural world. Absorbing the sounds around them as well as within them as they generated these tunes accounts for the immensity of many tracks and the peacefulness of others. Soft animal is a gently padding ballad, Devlin and Burik’s saxes calling out across the expanses while on Phthalo Green the bass clarinet’s woody tone mingles with a sombre sax song to add to the melancholy. These more reflective numbers show Bellbird’s feel for the depth of a tune when they strip back the dynamics. Perhaps Mourning Dove is the most illustrative of Bellbird’s progressive grasp of their more reflective compositions, a breathy, bluesy sax duet flush with dexterous harmonies which burst into a surprising, fluttering swing. That contrast in the tune’s title is beautifully captured in the quartet’s graphic soundscape.
The album’s title track also highlight’s the band’s natural inspirations. Featuring the klaxon-like song of the bellbird which prompted their name, The Call sets up an urgent no-wave riff from the insistent smack and croak of the sax. From here the muscular rhythmic drive carries a roaring, Rip Rig and Panic sax wrestle to a peak of full throated skronks and blurts, before gearing down to a post rock lament of keening melodic intensity. This post rock dynamic, swinging along the crescendo-to-calm pendulum, also underpins the emotionally charged Blowing On Embers, a track dedicated to a free Palestine. Moving and atmospheric the tune is shrouded in Arabic progressions while Eli Davidovici’s bowed bass groans. As it hits the mid point, the freeform expressionism lets rip as Hong’s tympanic drumming ratchets up the tension. The power and passion of this emerging quartet is unquestionable.
With ‘The Call’ Bellbird have made an album which speaks out and will ensure that they are heard. They are a tight unit but you get the feeling they are also a band that are open to endless possibilities.
Get your copy of ‘The Call’ by Bellbird from your local record store or direct from Constellation HERE
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