Willamette Week

Album Review: 1939 Ensemble

Black Diamond Pearl (Jealous Butcher)

Like Talkdemonic before it, 1939 Ensemble is a minimal instrumental outfit that is slowly loosening its internal set of rules. The former drums-and-vibes duo of Jose Medeles and David Coniglio broadened to a trio for Black Diamond Pearl, adding multi-instrumentalist Josh Thomas, who plays a lot of Moog where one might expect bass. Thomas (and occasional guest musicians, including M. Ward and Tortoise's John McEntire) successfully broadens the Ensemble's toolkit and keeps songs from running together, which they occasionally did on 2012 debut Howl & Bite. Black Diamond Pearl's tracks feel like displaced clusters of like-minded material. "Circles" and "BDP" feature restrained, driving, groove-oriented rhythms that recall early Kraftwerk or cool West Coast jazz until each song begins to unfurl and swing, and the steady drum signatures transform into tricky fills, while "Ryder" and "Earth" are breathless and upbeat post-rock numbers. This music probably isn't solo-focused enough to pull in jazz cats, sticky enough for pop addicts or outlandish enough for noise nerds, but listeners looking to be transported should find plenty to revisit.

https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-24576-album-review-1939-ensemble.html