From the Astral is the debut album by the Montreal-based guitarist
Oli Astral (Olivier Grenier-Bédard) and his trio with veteran double bassist/modular synthesist
Frédéric Alarie and drummer William Régnier.
Astral is an award-winning axeman who has studied with
John Abercrombie,
Mike Moreno, and
Jonathan Kreisberg, and a founding member of Canadian jazz quartet LEAF. The six originals here offer a balanced meld of resonantly organic guitar jazz and very musical use of technology.
Astral employs MIDI controllers to his sophisticated technique and spacious, even luxurious, sense of lyricism. The influence of the Pat Metheny Group is readily apparent in approach, but the sound is their own.
The opening title track is introduced by tinkling synths before a breaking snare enters. The guitar states an episodic melody. The lyric is circular, dependent on the rumbling bassline for its center. With unhurried grace and gentle swing, it glides, slides, and hovers as the players interact. The middle section allows synths to create a backdrop for
Astral's overdubbed, atmospheric solo before the rhythm section joins and prods him on. "L'envol" begins with ticking snares, droning MIDI, and a lithe single-string vamp before
Alarie's rich, woody tone offers the theme.
Astral cascades above and through the rhythm section. His glorious chord voicings are interspersed with nimble single-string fills before
Alarie commences a nearly euphoric bass solo. When the band returns to the theme, it's further down the line, more intricate and intimate. "From the Deep" enters with tom-tom breaks and a stolid bassline.
Astral's layered, post-bop arpeggios play strategically around the idea of a melody without stating one. He engages counterpoint, not with the band but himself, via overdubs and multi-tracks. Before long the synths usher in truly episodic group improvisation -- Régnier's breaks and accents are stunning before sliding into almost suite-like themes. "Avec Plaisir" is a simple groover, though its stops and starts eventually frame an ethereal dialogue between guitarist and bassist. Régnier rolls around his kit majestically, as the synths add depth and texture.
Astral grafts an acoustic guitar onto his bell-like electric playing on the contemplative "From the Heart." Its unhurried lyricism is an assertion of
Astral's dialogic communication with his bandmates. He delivers sleight-of-hand chord voicings as ballast for interplay while his doubled and tripled leads shimmer. Closer "Spectre Sonore" is laid-back, borderline amorphous. Reverb, pillowy guitar chords, a droning bassline, and delicately framed cymbals and snare create the foreground as
Astral feeds them tender resonant phrases. The middle section gets dubwise with skittering electronics, arco bass, and echo, as the guitarist begins dropping swinging post-bop arpeggios next to folk and country runs and chromatic extrapolations.
From the Astral's tunes and playing are seamless extensions of one another, offering nearly astonishing melodic improvisation as a bonus, resulting in a truly remarkable debut and the arrival of a great jazz guitar talent. ~ Thom Jurek