Michael Columbia - Mirrors, Shapes, Objects vinyl lp (due to size and weight, this price for the USA only. Outside of the USA, the price will be adjusted as needed)

SKU Rune 3404
David McDonnell: synthesizers, bass, soprano & alto saxophones, vocals
Christopher Kalis: synthesizers, guitar, bass
Dylan Ryan: drums, percussion, vocals

Note: This is a vinyl release of one of Cuneiform’s digital releases that the band made for their use to sell at their shows. It is on Cuneiform, but they made them and we are not wholesaling it out, which means that if you want it, you buy it from the band or you buy it from us. No one else will have this. Thanks

Born out of the stylistic free-for-all that was the Chicago independent music scene of the early 2000’s, Michael Columbia has continually experimented with its sound, evolving to meet the creative whims and urges of its practitioners.

Originally formed as a tangent of David McDonnell’s work with the Elephant 6 group Bablicon, Michael Columbia’s records have consistently defied expectations. Their latest offering, Mirrors, Shapes, Objects operates in the overlapping zones shared by free jazz, experimental, and post-rock. The unaffected blend of electro/acoustic textures and ambient swells suggest that the group may have at last arrived at an aesthetic equilibrium.

A multi-instrumentalist trio of veteran genrebenders, David McDonnell, Christopher Kalis, and Dylan Ryan first played together over a decade ago in the Chicago/Philadelphia-based post-rock collective, Icy Demons. Since then they have all consistently moved forward with their own respective musical identities, releasing records and performing with dozens of artists in the free jazz, indie, and electronic scenes in Chicago as well as on both coasts. Those varied experiences only serve to make the Michael Columbia more compelling.

Equally comfortable in an extended instrumental solo as in a committed motorik moment, the group drifts effortlessly between the Soft Machine-style soprano saxophone leads, the interlocking riffs of Discipline-era King Crimson, and the psychedelic-hypno-funk rhythms of Can. Vocals emerge periodically throughout the record, dispelling the notion that these pieces are just vehicles for improvisation and, unlike some of their progressive-rock predecessors, Michael Columbia’s songs rarely exceed five minutes.

As the title suggests, the structures of the pieces are occasionally nonconventional, but as with the Canterbury scene, there dwells within the nimble musicianship clearly defined vocal sections where improvisation takes the back seat to vocals and lyrics. Michael Columbia seems keen to keep the record focused, opting for more songs in the same amount of time and embracing a new-wave/progressive sound, coaxing the listener to ponder what kind of songs Bennie Maupin, Laurie Anderson, and Connie Plank might conjure up for a Michael Mann soundtrack circa 1982.

  • LabelCuneiform
  • UPC045775340418
Your Price $23.00
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