ZAMMUTO - Zammuto

Legend has it that Nick Zammuto worked as a cook while secretly cultivating his passion for an innovative kind of music born out of mathematical and scientific processes. There's no telling what direction his career might have taken had he not crossed paths with Paul De Jong. The story of Books (aka Paul De Jong and Nick Zammuto) is one of the most fascinating and consistent in the contemporary avant-garde – their reworking of folk matrices in an electronic key gave rise to sound collages of unexpected beauty.

The term "deconstructed music", in the case of Books, was however limiting and approximate. Theirs was a pure creation of new harmonic-rhythmic grids on which to channel innovative sonic research.

After announcing the duo's end in January, Nick Zammuto is back in action with a four-piece band, and the new sonic identity immediately reveals an elaborate, complex rhythmic and harmonic consistency. Electronic and natural rhythms skilfully intertwine with rhythm and lead guitars of clear, compelling sound, exploring territories less folk-bound and closer to the King Crimson school of rock.

Drummer Sean Dixon, with his ingenious rhythmic inventions, creates light and shade in which to conceal voices, guitars and electronic intrusions. Cacophonies, minimalism, guitar breaks and compressed rhythms, in pyrotechnic instrumental creations that sometimes brush up against pop structures without being infected by them: Nick Zammuto introduces a sonic consistency that moves away from the predictability of the original duo's laptop music. In this new guise he still reaches a highly evocative, hypnotic trance, but everything feels more physical and human, despite the vocoder-filtered voice.

The electronic-tinged afro-funk of "Groan Man, Don't Cry" and the festive, mirror-ball electronics of "The Shape Of Things To Come" pinpoint the album's most interesting moments thanks to a sharper harmonic finish, but it's the sense of adventure and sonic exploration that remains the record's real strength. "Yay" opens the sequence with a naivety and candor that come as a surprise – arrogance has given way to wonder – but it's inevitable that things slip into a few banalities here and there, like the electro-dance muddle "Zebra Butt" and the neurotic vocoder performance on "Harlequin". The hunger for something new that runs through every fragment of the record also crosses paths with progressive-rock on "Idiom Wind", fluid kraut sounds on "Weird Ceiling" and even folk and psychedelic residue on "Full Fading", yet the broader stylistic verdict remains up in the air.

There's always a strong sense that Nick Zammuto and his new band have mapped out as many possible directions as they could, in an ultimately successful attempt to break free from a cumbersome past. The few uncertainties already noted in some tracks, and echoed again in "Too Late To Topologie", urge caution, yet it's hard to remain indifferent to a project that just needs a little more courage.

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02/07/2012