Malcolm, Greg – “Swimming In It ” – [(K-RAA-K)3]

Thurston Hunger   3/22/2007   12-inch, A Library

Malcolm Axes! His two previous albums on Corpus Hermeticum were supreme
and this one is pure enchantment. He covers a lot with texture this time
out, and a one-man band-style arsenal (i.e. he’s a guitarist who needs
his feet and this features at times a “floor guitar”). Malcolm delivers
a Popol Vuh style shimmer on much of this. The liner notes detail the
prepared nature of his adapted guitars (and a nice nod to luthier Peter
Stephens for his helping handicraft.) One of the first things that
stood out to me on the ‘Homesick for Nowhere’ release was his amazing
sustain, check out “Staring at the Sun” on this lp. Another thing early
on was his incrediball cover of Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman”; he
returns here with another hornless Ornette number “Mob Job”. That gets
a sort of shanty side-step with occasional blare-beeps. In addition to
Ornette, Malcolm treats Greek, Armenian and Vietnamese melodies…a
sonic connoisseur in action, mingling ancient and modern alchemy. On
the liner notes, Malcolm proudly states no overdubs were used, but
still his real-time adaptations (of song and of instrument) do leave
a sense of shroud, a fantastic shroud. Axe-plore…

-Thurston Hunger