Shebang

Description

The guitar hero Oren Ambarchi returns with Shebang, the latest installment in his long-running series of rhythmic exercises with intricate details, which includes Quixotism (2014) and Hubris (2016). Like those records, Shebang brings together an international cast of musical luminaries, whose contributions were recorded individually in locations ranging from Sweden to Japan, but assembled so convincingly (by Ambarchi in collaboration with Konrad Sprenger) that it’s hard to believe they didn’t breathe the same studio air. Picking up the staccato guitar motifs that ran through Hubris, the unique 35-minute track of Shebang begins with a precisely interwoven lattice of chiming guitar figures, expanding the monolithic pulse of Hubris into a joyful and hyper-rhythmic melodicism that draws on disparate reference points such as Albert Marcoeur, the early Pat Metheny Group, and Henry Kaiser's It's A Wonderful Life. Starting from isolated notes and culminating in dense polyrhythms, the muted sounds of the guitar are joined by subtle, shimmering tones from a Leslie cabinet and guitar synthesizers. The collaborators are numerous: Joe Talia on drums, Sam Dunscombe on clarinet, legendary British pedal steel player B.J. Cole, Jim O'Rourke on synthesizers, Chris Abrahams from The Necks, Johan Berthling on double bass, and Julia Reidy on 12-string guitar. While he occupies his rhythmic space alone throughout the album, the dense overall sound of Shebang is carefully composed while relying on the free flow of improvisation, with individual voices momentarily coming to the forefront and subtle changes in harmony and texture. Combining minimalism, contemporary electronics, and classic ECM style, and bringing together exceptionally talented collaborators, Shebang is undoubtedly the work of Oren Ambarchi: obsessively detailed, relentlessly rhythmic, and resolutely festive.