The experimental jazz collective (using the term ‘jazz” loosely) High Pulp made their ANTI debut in 2022 with Pursuit of Ends and this follow-up, Days in the Desert is in some ways an extension of that sound. After all, they recorded these ten tracks, at their core, during the same session. In the interim, band members Andy Morrill (alto saxophone) and founder/drummer Bobby Granfelt moved from Seattle to L.A. Often crossing through the Mojave Desert on their many tours, the desert becomes more metaphorical in this context. Simply put, homing in on their own instincts in order to make it through the disorienting haze.
Those instincts successfully forge a sound at the confluence of jazz, indie rock, and electronica. Those ten songs initially put aside at the end of the last session, took on new life, post-pandemic. Beyond the new coterie of guests, the other band members remain intact – keyboardists Antoine Martel and Rob Homan, multi-reedist Victory Nguyen, and bassist Scott Rixon. Additional personnel grace certain tracks. They are trombonist Isaac Poole, and guitarist Gehrig Uhles, both of whom return from the previous album. Guests include the returning harpist Brandee Younger, tenor saxophonist and label mate James Brandon Lewis, bassist MonoNeon, guitarists Jeff Parker and Kurt Rosenwinkel, and electronics wizards Daedelus and Telemakus.
High Pulp runs the gamut – strains of vintage fusion with Weather Report’s ethereal side but the dual keyboards and multiple synths bring them into the realm of more contemporary fusion acts such as UK bands The Comet Is Coming and Alfa Mist, with cinematic elements of Slowly Moving Camera and Mark Lockheart’s Dreamers. This is more coincidental than imitative. And to be fair, electronica reigns more fully this time out. Case in point is the opener “Slaw” with the keyboards creating an ethereal, mysterious soundscape over which the horns, including guest Poole, as well as guitarist Uhles join the core team. This same unit, essentially an octet, becomes a nonet on “Dirtmouth” which features the progressive tenorist James Brandon Lewis. The tune bubbles along like a late-night drive, propelled by Granfelt’s crisp drumming until Lewis makes an emphatic, Coltrane-like entrance at about the two and half minute mark, thus creating a newfound intensity. ‘Solanin” breathes pure psychedelia, buoyed by harpist Younger who meshes nicely with the keys and the soft tones of the reeds. “Never in My Short Sweet Life,” a song that underwent several rewrites, further extends this spacey excursion with guest MonoNeon, who is present but not overly prominent. “Robert Pollard” is a brief, risky palette cleanser, obviously named after the Guided by Voices frontman.
“United Dakotas” features both guitarists, but most conspicuously Tortoise’s Jeff Parker as the song mixes ‘90s alternative rock and jazz-funk before dissolving into fuzzy electronics. “Fast Asleep” ironically begins chaotically before settling into a melodic, ambient, alternately bumpy and pillowy ride as it moves through several distinct sections. The single, “(If You Don’t Leave) The City Will Kill You” begins with Granfelt setting a brisk tempo over which the sonics and especially the horns send up images like blurring mazes of lights and reflections that create intriguing patterns when viewed from a vehicle in motion. When Daedelus enters this aural/visual imagery gets even more distorted and we find ourselves seemingly trapped (in a safe way) in a web of electronica in “Fatigue” where Kurt Rosenwinkel and Telemakus contribute to the cosmos-like soundscape. “Bad Infinity” mixes the by-now-familiar ethereal with statements from the saxophonists before retreating into wave-like, dizzying psychedelia, the only fitting way for the band to exit.
On the previous album, Granfelt characterized their sound as a synthesis more so than fusion. Again, there are few solos in this largely ensemble-driven, dreamy, trippy music: the layered soundscapes prevail.
