In athletics and music especially, longevity can be a curse. Stay too long and suddenly inspiration wanes and gifts begin to lose their edge. By all measures, Bruce Hornsby has had an incredible career. He played on the last Ambrosia album in 1982 and he and his band The Range had a hit in 1986 with "The Way It Is," a tune later sampled by Tupac Shakur. Since then he's recorded and played with the Grateful Dead, jammed bluegrass with Ricky Skaggs, and cut a jazz trio album with Christian McBride and Jack DeJohnette.
Absolute Zero, his seventh solo album, is obsessed with rhythms, and while not atonal exactly, is very high concept Hornsby. After an opening title track enlivened by Jack DeJohnette's drumming, the mood shifts in "Fractals," where over a jittery solo piano background that sounds like J.S. Bach's metronomic precision run amok, Hornsby channels a bit of Purple Rain-era Prince in the beats and vocals. The musically spacious "Meds" features 17 violins and John Cage prepared piano samples, but is slightly marred by Hornsby's dominant talky vocals. Recorded with reasonable dynamic range, the album's forward, in-your-face mix, sounds best in the funky thump that powers "Voyager One," a bright dance tune led by JV Collier's insistent bass figures and an intriguing musical meshing with NYC-based chamber music ensemble, yMusic. Set in an uneasy dreamworld and driven by menacing piano and overactive percussion, "The Blinding Light Of Dreams" is straight up prog rock. And "White Noise" could be an outtake from Lamb Lies Down-era Genesis. Hornsby, who could easily be satisfied playing his 80s hits or Dead retreads, deserves credit here for opting to get funky, edgy, and downright experimental. © Robert Baird / Qobuz