Country: USA
Genre(s): Instrumental Fusion
Label: Cuneiform Records – RUNE448
Format: CD, digital
Release date: May 10, 2019
Tracklist:
1. Haboob (10:02)
2. Slicer (6:58)
3. You Know You Know (7:02)
4. Earthshine (9:16)
5. My Brothers How's (1:58)
6. 24 Liars (8:46)
7. A Realm Of Paradise (4:13)
8. Why Starfish Why (3:26)
9. Torch Shadows (8:10)
10. Maneki Neko (12:52)
Total Time 72:43
11. Twilight Of The Space Gods [digital bonus track] (40:21)
Line-up:
Henry Kaiser: six-string guitar
Anthony Pirog: six-string guitar
Tracy Silverman: six-string electric violin
Jeff Sipe: drums
Andy West (Dixie Dregs): six-string bass
Description/Reviews:
"You Know I Know" has a lyrical quality with short stops and starts, a rhythmic riff throughout and a power-packed drum/guitar duet at the close. It’s one of the highlights of Five Times Surprise. Another noteworthy piece is the uptempo, dramatic, aggressive opener, “Haboob,” named for the violent and oppressive sandstorms that originated in Sudan but have also been more frequent in recent times to Arizona where West lives. The tune is best played at high volume. The original improvisation went on for 20 minutes but for the album has been shaved down to 10.Media/Samples
There are long assaults, including the grinding and fierce “Slicer,” the mysterious and at times jazz rocking “Torch Shadows,” and the finale, “Maneki Neko,” the 13-minute excursion named after the Japanese feline good luck charm. It’s spirited and high-energy with shifting tempo interludes and the lyrical beauty of the coda.
The band also delivers shorter pieces, including the high-energy “Why Starfish Why” with its terrific bass/drum grooves and great guitar conversations and crossfires. (Despite Kaiser’s passion as a deep-sea scientific diver in the U.S. Antarctica Program, he says the title has nothing to do with that.) Another tasty shorty is ”A Realm of Paradise” that starts off as a calm meditation and flies with Silverman’s violin taking the lead with support from an effects tapestry of sound. The shortest piece, “My Brothers How’s,” clocks in at 1:45. The groove is sweet and the guitar-bass interplay is special. “This is a Jeff song with the bass line and rhythm,” Kaiser says. “But then we changed it, keeping the bass line and using our own melodies on top. Jeff really wanted to play that groove.”
Distinctively, most of the tunes shift gears mid-song, most prominently on “Earthshine.” It opens in a calm of the light colors of the aurora, then hurries into a forceful, even ominous stretch before another stretch of beauty, with acoustic guitar and harmonics and eBow acoustic guitar sonics (from Five Times Surprise press release).
Bandcamp
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