New History Warfare, Vol. 2: Judges

by Colin Stetson

Overview

Colin Stetson's 2008 album New History Warfare, Vol. 1 showcased the saxophonist/multi-reedist's phenomenal multiphonic improvisation style and circular breathing technique. Released in 2011, New History Warfare, Vol. 2: Judges features a similar exploratory solo saxophone approach that is nothing short of mind-blowing. Stetson uses the circular breathing style, recorded in single takes and occasionally with overdubs, to create atmospheric and hypnotic loops that sound like layered analog keyboards more than saxophones. In that sense, the tracks here often bring to mind something along the lines of Jean Michel Jarre crossed with Roscoe Mitchell. These tracks allow Stetson to skronk and pulse, wheeze and then soar with white jet-engine noise that is never purposeless and always controlled. Also featured here are a few spoken word sections with avant-garde icon Laurie Anderson -- including the poetic "A Dream of Water" -- that lend a cinematic quality to the proceedings. Elsewhere, vocalist Shara Worden delivers a haunting lead on the spiritual "Lord I Just Can't Keep from Crying Sometimes." Primarily, however, it is Stetson's transcendent and muscular ability to layer sound, breath, and rhythm in a meditative compositional style that sticks with you long after Judges is over. ~ Matt Collar

Product Details

Release Date:	02/22/2011
Label:	Constellation
UPC:	0666561007522
Rank:	117235

Tracks

1. Awake on Foreign Shores
2. Judges
3. The Stars in His Head [Dark Lights Remix]
4. All the Days I've Missed You (ILAIJ I)
5. From No Part of Me Could I Summon a Voice
6. A Dream of Water
7. Home
8. Lord I Just Can't Keep from Crying Sometimes
9. Clothed in the Skin of the Dead
10. All the Colors Bleached to White (ILAIJ II)
11. Red Horse (Judges ll)
12. The Righteous Wrath of an Honorable Man
13. Fear of the Unknown and the Blazing Sun
14. In Love and in Justice

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Colin Stetson   Primary Artist,Soloist,Sax (Alto),Sax (Bass),French Horn,Sax (Tenor)
Shara Worden   Vocals
Laurie Anderson   Spoken Word

Technical Credits

Vid Cousins   Engineer
Shara Worden   Arranger,Composer
Colin Stetson   Arranger,Composer,Producer
Paul Corley   Assistant
Laurie Anderson   Composer
Bell Orchestre   Composer
Mell Dettmer   Mastering
Efrim Manuel Menuck   Engineer
Ben Frost   Mixing
Traditional   Composer
Shahzad Ismaily   Producer