Description
As genre conventions continue to morph and blur, there's a wealth of stunning new music being made wherever groups of musicians have the imagination and ingenuity to transcend the old boundaries and just play whatever comes naturally. Sun Speak are such a group and their album Probiotic Orchestrations is full of music that's urgent, powerful, accessible and humorous, pulling together sounds and textures from the worlds of rock, jazz, electronica, Americana and the outer reaches of progressive music into compelling whole. Guitarist Matt Gold and drummer Nate Friedman first came together as Sun Speak ten years ago amid the white heat of the Chicago experimental scene, where they'd worked with such luminaries as Makaya McCraven and Patricia Barber. On this, their sixth release, they continue to develop their own distinctive sonic world with the aid of fellow Chicagoan Daniel Pierson who joined as engineer/sound sculptor and now increasingly takes a collaborative role as a third member of the band on keyboards. Now the trio are dispersed and live in different corners of the USA, but in 2024 they came together in a remote seaside cabin in New Hampshire, writing and recording every day in an intense undisturbed whirlwind of creativity. Probiotic Orchestrations is the result - a dazzling mix of improvisation and composition, exploring rhythm, colour and texture with the directness of rock and the fearless improvisatory flair of jazz.
Nate says "This record showcases everything we love about our way of making music together - playing with sounds and textures, improvisation and chance alongside deliberate songwriting. We're enjoying folding Dan into the tapestry of the music - it's a new and exciting avenue for our making music together." Dan adds "We all come from that Chicago scene where jazz and noise rock and hip hop all collide - there's deep experimentation alongside great songwriting, freedom alongside discipline". "It's all about trusting each other as long-time friends" says Matt "And simply playing the music."
Available on heavyweight black vinyl + digipak CD editions.
