Invisible cities album12/26/2023 ![]() ![]() "Cities & Time," for instance, is a piece that starts with an ostinato in the bass and drums and then brings in the horns of trumpeter Tim Hagans and saxophonist Rich Perry almost as if in another, slower tempo. Though the CD is full of good jazz improvisation (with a truly wonderful rhythm team of bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Tom Melito), it also seems to be in conflict: whether to be as ambitious in concept as the book might suggest or simply to play some good, honest swinging jazz. They only broadcast the warning signs of something approaching.A concept record of sorts, pianist Pete Malinverni was initially inspired to put his Invisible Cities project together after reading the Italian novelist Italo Calvino's book of the same name. ![]() Will you run from it? Will you embrace it? A Winged Victory for the Sullen provides no answers on Invisible Cities. Listen for it in the space between the notes something is coming. Each second drips with all of these emotions and more, but none shimmer quite so brightly as fear or anticipation. Even without its companion piece, there is so much here. Of their projects, Invisible Cities may not shine the brightest, but it does invite the most contemplation. They may be the only classical adjacent band with any hope of doing it successfully. It’s a quiet place filled with potential, and there is always something so unsettling about the untold narratives that lurk within peaceful moments.Ī Winged Victory for the Sullen has once again shown that they are one of the few bands capable of soundtracking the modern era. Its piano notes connecting the raindrops to one another as they trace a path down your window. ![]() Even the ear-catching “The Divided City” could be a soundtrack to a particularly melancholic rainstorm of a day. But it does this with extreme precision, deploying its most abrasive elements in the spine of the track’s bassy thrum. “The Dead Outnumber The Living” noisily calculates the immensity of the anguish that the past has wrought and will continue to wreak as the future becomes past. It bristles with a quiet longing for something that could be but never has been. “So That the City Can Begin To Exist” is somber and cool. With the sole exception of “Total Perspective Vortex” and its overwhelming assault on the senses, most tracks quietly languish in the background of your life. But it can just as easily be enjoyed passively. The pensive pace of the track, along with the descriptive title, shows us that the struggle is the only memory the subject has, and they were too enraptured by it to enjoy the moments where they achieved their goal.Ĭomplex narratives like this are bound into the DNA of this record. ![]() The subject of the track drives silently down an empty city corridor, one that they have traveled hundreds of times before, and contemplates the moments they spent in a struggle. Take, for instance, “Desires Are Already Memories.” This chilling track uses distant sounding choruses to evoke the specter of waking dreams. Jumping from song to song, listeners clearly sense that this was composed as a soundtrack to a companion piece, but each song still functions on its own. It’s a staggering companion piece to modern life. On this album, people hear everything from synths and strings to piano, choirs and glitched-out electronics. But few take that calling to the degree that A Winged Victory for the Sullen do. Like many neo-classical/ambient artists, they constantly add new sounds to their repertoire to help push them beyond the boundaries of their existing material. A Winged Victory for the Sullen are no strangers to the unorthodox. ![]()
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