The name of this avant guitar-bass-drums trio might suggest a small object capable of inflicting agonizing pain, but never fear,
Thumbscrew take you only a relatively short distance beyond the creative jazz comfort zone. Expect some mild abrasions, but also the sharp focus of skilled improvisers who happen to be fine composers as well. Bassist
Michael Formanek has roughly two decades of recording experience beyond that of bandmates guitarist
Mary Halvorson and drummer
Tomas Fujiwara, but once the three musicians start playing together, banish any thoughts of a generational divide. The composing is divvied up equally among the threesome on this truly collaborative outfit's eponymous 2014
Cuneiform label debut: nine tracks in total, three each by
Formanek,
Halvorson, or
Fujiwara. The three artists forge a singular band identity on
Thumbscrew, with no individual taking over the reins. The album's first track,
Fujiwara's "Cheap Knock Off," was reportedly inspired by
Formanek's
ECM label quartet; the theme's spiky bass and guitar lines intersect in skewed rhythmic permutations akin to the contrapuntal darting and weaving of
Formanek and saxophonist
Tim Berne, but with
Halvorson serving as
Formanek's foil here, "Cheap Knock Off" is a far different animal with its own distinctive
Thumbscrew style.
As the album progresses,
Halvorson skips from clear single-note runs and advanced chord voicings to reverb-laden tremolo, gravelly distortion, and pitch-bending effects produced with her Line 6 delay pedal. The guitarist is central to
Thumbscrew's sound, yet the album's mix doesn't play favorites among the three equally present bandmembers -- another clear indication of the group's collaborative bent -- with
Halvorson restraining her volume even when soloing, the decay of
Fujiwara's prominent cymbals bleeding across his bandmates' angularities, and
Formanek sliding effortlessly from melodic to anchoring roles, his bass timbre providing the album's largest measure of organic warmth. The simple but memorable theme in
Halvorson's eight-plus-minute "Fluid Hills in Pink" is first articulated through
Formanek's deep woody resonance before he hands the melody back to the composer for her own harmonic investigation. Later, a probing bass-drums free improv leads into an extended full-trio interlude highlighted by the guitarist's swooping pitch manipulations, before the proceedings are pulled into line by a segue into the marching cadence of
Fujiwara's "Nothing Doing," a minute-and-a-half track that finds
Halvorson and
Formanek bursting into post-grunge-metal mode and the trio locking into a furious stop-on-a-dime unison finale. A pair of
Formanek numbers -- and album highlights -- give
Halvorson more chances to dirty up her sound: "Still...Doesn't Swing" marries that patented
Formanek-
Berne-ish spikiness to a full-on rock chordal bridge (and features some of
Halvorson's hardest picking on the album), and the guitarist stretches out with a blistering extended solo on "Buzzard's Breath," a rough jazz-rock jammer that might even remind some
Cuneiform listeners of an old
Matching Mole instrumental. At moments like this, Peabody jazz faculty member
Formanek clearly displays his pleasure in rocking out off-campus -- particularly when musicians like
Halvorson and
Fujiwara can join him for the ride. ~ Dave Lynch