JASPER HØIBY - Planet B
Edition EDN1149
Jasper Høiby (bass, electronics), Josh Arcoleo (saxophone) and Marc Michel (drums)
“Planet B is a conversation about who we are as a people today, how
we exist in relation to this earth and to each other, and where we want
to go from here. Let us be inspired together and explore what a reimagining
of this planet can be.”
If you were disappointed when, in February, Jasper Høiby announced that the 15 year phenomenon Phronesis would be taking an “extended break”, then HØiby’s latest trio project Planet B may be just the tonic. The first in a four album series with saxophonist Josh Arcoleo and drummer Marc Michel, Høiby aims to blend his extraordinary writing and improvisation with a philosophical, spiritual and ecological dimension – exploring some of the big issues of the day: humanity, climate change, artificial intelligence, and monetary reform. Planet B kicks this off through a series of compositions, most of which are layered with spoken verbal quotes from different luminaries. The titles of the tracks give a flavour of the overall mood of reflection and optimism for a recast world: reimagine, consciousness, interconnectedness, life is a gift.
I loved this album. Whether you agree probably depends on whether you prefer your music neat or, as here, poured over the gently clinking ice cubes of linguistic meaning floating through Høiby’s liquid compositions.
The best bit for me is that the album operates on different levels. As a listener, you first encounter the music with the disembodied voices as a sound world. Spacious flowing pieces, compelling improvising, interspersed with very particular phrases spoken without context in different calm voices: a man’s US drawl; a clipped Anglo-Indian received pronunciation; an American woman speaking. The aural effect is mesmerising – almost like a hypnotic recording from the 1960s. As if you may come to, from a trance-like state, with an elevated consciousness, a desire to improve the world, and a heightened appreciation of irregular time signatures. Here’s hoping anyway. The musicians are glitteringly accomplished. Their astonishing organic interaction creates a musical unity that is a tidy metaphor for the global human interconnectedness for which Høiby advocates. The melodic lines of Josh Arcoleo are arresting – blending with the warm voice of the double bass, and the remarkable rhythms and textures of the drums.
Then there is a whole other level if you look into the meaning behind the snippets of language (your mission, should you choose to accept it). There are the ideas of the author Charles Eisenstein on the need to move from individualism to “interbeing” - a world of connection, and references to the opportunity to reimagine ourselves by the philosopher and social activists Grace Lee Boggs and Jiddu Krishnamurti, amongst others. When you come back to listen again, a whole extra dimension of meaning and understanding is added to the music. A great richness of ideas. Does embarking on this intellectual, language-based investigation add to the musical appreciation or take away from it? Is it necessary to appreciate the music properly to have this deeper understanding of the verbal extracts?
There are no right answers to these questions - you decide - but it is an interesting conversation to be having. That this aims to be more than “just” a jazz album, and what this involves is, in itself, thought-provoking.
What is beyond doubt, in this weird expanse of Covid lockdown when we all find ourselves in some greater or smaller way re-examining who we are and where we are, there has never been a better time and space to reflect on the Big Questions. And, in many ways, Planet B is the perfect soundtrack to this.
Reviewed by Maddy Shaw
Edition EDN1149
Jasper Høiby (bass, electronics), Josh Arcoleo (saxophone) and Marc Michel (drums)
“Planet B is a conversation about who we are as a people today, how
we exist in relation to this earth and to each other, and where we want
to go from here. Let us be inspired together and explore what a reimagining
of this planet can be.”
If you were disappointed when, in February, Jasper Høiby announced that the 15 year phenomenon Phronesis would be taking an “extended break”, then HØiby’s latest trio project Planet B may be just the tonic. The first in a four album series with saxophonist Josh Arcoleo and drummer Marc Michel, Høiby aims to blend his extraordinary writing and improvisation with a philosophical, spiritual and ecological dimension – exploring some of the big issues of the day: humanity, climate change, artificial intelligence, and monetary reform. Planet B kicks this off through a series of compositions, most of which are layered with spoken verbal quotes from different luminaries. The titles of the tracks give a flavour of the overall mood of reflection and optimism for a recast world: reimagine, consciousness, interconnectedness, life is a gift.
I loved this album. Whether you agree probably depends on whether you prefer your music neat or, as here, poured over the gently clinking ice cubes of linguistic meaning floating through Høiby’s liquid compositions.
The best bit for me is that the album operates on different levels. As a listener, you first encounter the music with the disembodied voices as a sound world. Spacious flowing pieces, compelling improvising, interspersed with very particular phrases spoken without context in different calm voices: a man’s US drawl; a clipped Anglo-Indian received pronunciation; an American woman speaking. The aural effect is mesmerising – almost like a hypnotic recording from the 1960s. As if you may come to, from a trance-like state, with an elevated consciousness, a desire to improve the world, and a heightened appreciation of irregular time signatures. Here’s hoping anyway. The musicians are glitteringly accomplished. Their astonishing organic interaction creates a musical unity that is a tidy metaphor for the global human interconnectedness for which Høiby advocates. The melodic lines of Josh Arcoleo are arresting – blending with the warm voice of the double bass, and the remarkable rhythms and textures of the drums.
Then there is a whole other level if you look into the meaning behind the snippets of language (your mission, should you choose to accept it). There are the ideas of the author Charles Eisenstein on the need to move from individualism to “interbeing” - a world of connection, and references to the opportunity to reimagine ourselves by the philosopher and social activists Grace Lee Boggs and Jiddu Krishnamurti, amongst others. When you come back to listen again, a whole extra dimension of meaning and understanding is added to the music. A great richness of ideas. Does embarking on this intellectual, language-based investigation add to the musical appreciation or take away from it? Is it necessary to appreciate the music properly to have this deeper understanding of the verbal extracts?
There are no right answers to these questions - you decide - but it is an interesting conversation to be having. That this aims to be more than “just” a jazz album, and what this involves is, in itself, thought-provoking.
What is beyond doubt, in this weird expanse of Covid lockdown when we all find ourselves in some greater or smaller way re-examining who we are and where we are, there has never been a better time and space to reflect on the Big Questions. And, in many ways, Planet B is the perfect soundtrack to this.
Reviewed by Maddy Shaw
