Notes by Tim Motzer: For those unaware, back in August 18th, 2019 Markus and I met Kenny Grohowski musically for the first time on stage at ShapeShifter Lab in Brooklyn NYC. To say the least it was an incredible first meeting of this explosive improvising trio in front of an enthusiastic live audience.

Thankfully the set was recorded and the results were released on Leonardo Pavkovic’s MoonJune Records as Shapeshifters. I still remember that first meeting of this mighty trio, our chemistry, and our sound immediately gelled. We were all so buzzed and happy from the set afterwards and hoping to do it again.

Fast forward to May 2022, Leonardo arranged a recording session for us in the Catskill village, in the beautiful Hudson Valley, in New York State. Markus was coming off of a Stick Men tour, and a few days earlier, I had opened for them solo. Kenny was just back from a tour with Imperial Triumphant. We were all charged up and ready to go.

We recorded about 6 hours of initial takes, with the live trio set up in a circle in the studio, and then spent another few hours overdubbing Rhodes, Mellotron, and Hammond B3 to orchestrate several select pieces. It was an incredible session, all improvised—composed on the spot.

Markus and I have been playing together since 2008, recorded many records together, and have this very deep musical connection. We’ve always created music from improvising. Now, working with Kenny we’ve found our special drummer who can do that with us, and play anything. The music finds us.

Markus played his U8 touch guitar — which sounded invincible and crushing — along with his looping setup. I brought along and used my 6 and 12 string Takamine acoustic-electrics, G&L Commanche, and Danelectro Baritone along with my electronics, looping, a few new fuzz pedals, and bow. Each of these guitars and sounds brought a different vibe to the music we created.

Sometimes Markus would begin a piece, and other times he would direct me to begin something. Kenny’s drumming was propulsive and inspiring throughout the day. His drumming is as electrifying as is his commitment to ideas and rhythmic invention across the music. The recording day was a blur. We worked hard all day and night, and it was over before we knew it.

We were deep in. The music comes through us. It’s a deep process, like a meditation in a way, but we are all together and deep in the sound. The longer we played the more treasures revealed themselves.

After a day of that you really don’t even know what has happened until you rest and listen back at a later time. We all had a really good feeling. A day later Markus came to my studio in Philly, and we listened to everything with fresh ears, and made notes, and selections from all of the material.

All of us agreed on the tracks chosen and we each contributed titles. The album Bleed [out on November 2nd, 2022 on MoonJune Records] is the result, and it is a monumental album by this band.

1. Bleed (11:21)
2. Causastum (8:14)
3. Sibylline (11:31)
4. Monolith (14:30)
5. Oracle Chamber (7:03)
6. Impenetrable (6:01)
7. Free in the Now (6:20)
8. Externalities of the Truest Universality (8:39)

This ingeniously-sculptured, organically-opulent new album from the collective trio opens on the opulent, mechanistically-imbued, sonically-charged 11 minute, titular Bleed and then brings forth the ballad, for the most part, fluid theatrical jam session the other, Causastum, the magnificent orchestrations of sound and veritable vision within the 11 minute Sibylline, before we are treated to the new harmonic pathways and melodies found within the near-15 minute opus, Monolith.

On an album that has been (correctly) self-described as sounding like “... pretty girls with beards ... very crunchy .. a lot of caustic sounds and abrasions ... some brand new directions in music and sounds ... new rhythms, new fuzz tones, et al.”, up next is the almost crystalline elements of life all coming together to form the musical blood within Oracle Chamber, which is in turn backed by the shimmering cacophony of sounds that make up Impenetrable, the album then rounds out on the searing, alt-percussion imbued free fall that is Free in the Now, closing on the finite elegance within each layered level of shading and sound-shaping of the near nine minute Externalities of the Truest Universality.

MARKUS REUTER - Touch Guitars® AU8, looping
TIM MOTZER - acoustic-electric 6 & 12 string guitars, baritone electric, electric guitar, bow, electronics, looping
KENNY GROHOWSKI - drums and percussion

Markus Reuter & Tim Motzer in Asbury Park, May 5th, 2022 [Official Video]

www.markusreuter.com

Official Purchase Link