The Breakdown
Sheffield’s Emergence Collective have quietly built a reputation for crafting hypnotic, slow-burning improvisations that straddle the boundaries of minimalism, contemporary classical, and ambient music. Their latest release, Chapel, recorded live at the Samuel Worth Chapel and out now via Redundant Span Records, refines and deepens their approach, creating a mesmerising three-track album – titled SWC-1, 2 and 3, that unfolds with patience and purpose.
As a 10-piece improvisational group, Emergence Collective work without predetermined structures – only a key is decided before they begin, allowing the music to emerge organically. Unlike their previous album Fly Tower, which featured percussion, Chapel is entirely rhythm-driven by melodic instruments, lending the record a fluid, shifting quality reminiscent of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians or Brian Eno’s ambient works. The space itself plays a key role, with the chapel’s natural acoustics blending into the ensemble’s evolving soundscapes, creating a truly immersive experience.
The album’s three long pieces each have their own distinct character while sharing a common foundation. Rather than relying on traditional world music scales or patterns, the instrumentation; including nyckelharpa, hammered dulcimer, recorders, whistles, and saxophones hints at global influences in timbre rather than form. Each track is built around repeating melodic motifs, some just two or three notes long, others stretching to eight before subtly shifting. The stringed instruments often establish delicate, looping figures that morph almost imperceptibly, while winds and other melodic voices weave in and out, sometimes adding sharp, stabbing fragments, sometimes stretching into sweeping arcs.
There’s a constant sense of movement and shift, even as the music remains tonally grounded. At times, the interlocking patterns suggest the structured minimalism of Steve Reich or John Adams, yet there are occasional bass-driven moments that flirt with the spiritual jazz of Pharoah Sanders. The absence of percussion doesn’t diminish the rhythmic energy- instead, the instruments themselves provide a pulse, with changes in articulation and orchestration subtly altering the momentum.
The beauty of Chapel lies in how these elements interact. As textures thicken and shift, moments of complete melodic clarity emerge, brief yet breathtaking, before dissolving again into the ensembles swirling collective sound sometimes, often leaving moments of silence or thin textures.
All three pieces on Chapel are beautiful and immersive, but the opening track SWC-1 stands as the best example of the album’s strengths. In its moments of clarity, where the interwoven melodies lock into something utterly luminous, the effect is mesmerising. Swc-2 track leans at least in moments, on a more insistent, driving repetition, while the third moves with a gentle, swaying motion, both equally engaging, though never quite reaching the crystalline beauty of the opener.
What Emergence Collective achieve on Chapel is remarkable: music that feels both spontaneous and meticulously constructed, constantly shifting yet deeply meditative. It’s an album that rewards patience, pulling the listener into its evolving patterns and textures, revealing new details with each listen. With Chapel, the group continue their journey into structured improvisation, proving once again that some of the most mesmerising music comes from the spaces between composition and chance.
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