Little Women – “Lung” – [Aum Fidelity]

surferrosa   5/15/2013   CD, Jazz

Little Women- Tenor, alto, drums, guitar- out of Brooklyn NY bring us their 42 minute masterpiece.. which I have conveniently cut up into excerpts, less threatening in their duration, for the purposes of radio play.. that being said, this piece is really meant to be listened to uninterrupted, as a whole. Lung is all about contrast, inhale and exhale..quite and loud, gentle and rowdy,euphony and cacophony.. whenever you hear one it will be followed by the other. The piece starts off with about 1:40 of breathing sounds, which return throughout, between spurts of instrumental spasms. Tings and taps of a drum set settle in, and the rest of the party chimes in at about 4 min. These are the sounds of awakening, slowly cracking your eyes open and coming to (excerpt 1). Starting off lovely and lulled, things simmer and cook, with pops of loudness poking through (goes from very quite to quite loud without warning)..like an indecisive manic depressive, until the tension busts open about 20 minutes in (end of excerpt 2) when guitar strings start to break, the saxes start to skronk and the drummer lets loose. Another lull is followed by another freak out (excerpt 3) as eventually this epic piece winds down..circling back to where it started (excerpt 4). These guys open up a conversation that strokes, whispers, kisses, shouts, stings and bites. Killer interplay of sounds, and musicians who are tuned to the same frequency. 42 minutes goes by like 10.. go ahead.. play it from start to finish. -Surfer Rosa