Second EP by local masters of cinematic avant-jazz. Perhaps best known as the accompanists during the recent Alfred Hitchcock film retrospective, Brisbane’s The Quadratic Contingency stand out from the city’s esteemed jazz talent pool by incorporating influences ranging from The Cinematic Orchestra and Soul Coughing to Steve Reich into their music. More avant-garde in approach than fellow hometown luminaries Misinterprotato, the quartet flex their not-inconsiderable musical muscles on the three-track >>>> EP – their second release to date. The morbidly-titled opener Old Man’s Last Granny Smith is, fittingly, a sonorous piano-led meditation on the human mortality, James Ball gradually dialling in a minimalist, melancholic melody over a series of reverberating chords. On the more lively Seedy Thumb Tac, Toby Gifford blows a not-quite-subtle trumpet while drummer Paul Young gets out of the ‘conventional percussion’ zone by establishing an array of stop-start grooves, with double bassist Phil Jack keeping it all together. The EP’s last and best number, Man, Sucka Man kicks off with a groovy piano riff and near-musique concrète string scrapes before the whole merry racket – ivory flights, trumpet attacks, explosive drum finale – comes to life. Pleasantly refreshing. DENIS SEMCHENKO [Rave Magazine]
