COLIN STETSON plays the Great Hall May 19. See listing. Rating: NNNN
Few avant-garde solo saxophone records will get as much attention as Colin Stetson’s third instalment in his New History Warfare series. This is partly due to the critical praise and Polaris Music Prize shortlisting that Vol. 2 enjoyed, but also because of a guest appearance by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, who might attract listeners unprepared for Stetson’s sonic extremism.
Rather than fussing with overdubs or effects, the Montreal-based musician uses a range of performance techniques and unorthodox microphone positions to make a single take of sax sound otherworldly and layered. Despite the limited tools, he evokes everything from jazz and doom metal to techno and classical music, often simultaneously.
On To See More Light, however, gospel is the dominant theme, which not only gels perfectly with Vernon’s vocals but also with the screeches, menacing thumps and eerily resonating pulses that make up Stetson’s unique musical vocabulary.
Top track: This Bed Of Shattered Bone