Informal Troupe
Urban Parkland
(Jazzgroove/Creative Vibes)
Rating: ****
This Sydney trio led by established saxophonist Matthew Ottignon, previously heard in The Java Quartet, Aronas, and other contemporary Australian groups, takes an unusual musical journey.
It’s described as a soundtrack to the trio’s neighbourhood, Sydney’s inner western area with its hidden and abandoned reservoirs, bridges, and industrial sites.
The music certainly fits this somewhat bleak sounding landscape using post-industrial electronic effects plus heavy rhythmic grooves from drummer Hamish Stuart and bassist Dave Symes.
But what could have been just another album of pounding rock fusion, is rescued by the softly restrained tone and lyrical playing of Ottignon’s tenor sax on originals of more than passing interest.
Marble Sky opens to a guitar-like theme statement on electric bass, adding a rock beat against sax with electronic effects – shimmering echoes – generating inner city images: empty factories, smokestacks, cracked cement, rusting iron, the throb of ghostly manufacturing.
Most tracks have such influences, but Interlude of The Exclusive One is a delightful ballad played expressively, with minimal rhythmic backing.
This review was first published in The Weekend Australian and is republished with permission of the writer.
