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Gordian Knot - Gordian Knot

Artist:	Gordian Knot
Title:	Gordian Knot
Label:	Laser's Edge/Sensory SR 3005
Length(s):	58 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1998
Month of review:	01/1999

Line up

Sean Malone - bass, stick, keys
Sean Reinert - drums
Trey Gunn - touch guitar
Ron Jarzombek - guitar
Glenn Snelwar - guitar
John Myung - stick

Tracks

1)	Galois	2.03
2)	Code/anticode	6.47
3)	Reflections	6.50
4)	Megrez	3.58
5)	Singularity	4.46
6)	Redemption's Way	6.59
7)	Komm Susser Tod, Komm Sel'ge	2.22
8)	Rivers Dancing	7.36
9)	Srikara Tal	9.26
10)	[Grace]?	7.26

Summary

People from Cynic, King Crimson, Watchtower and Dream Theater playing together with Sean Malone leading the project and taking care of most of the writing. Not what you might expect, but not very surprising either. Another one of those projects I hear you say? Well, maybe, but looking at the titles and the fact that this album does in fact contain a Bach composition might imply that there's more to it.

The music

Galois was a mathematician and for him the first track on this instrumental album was named. The music is eerie played by Malone alone on keys and will remind you of Fripps soundscapes. The tones often get quite high. Code/anticode is a group effort: Malone, Reinert, Gunn and Jarzombek. The song is striking in that it features some unexpected Spanish sounding melodies. In places the guitarist fiddles around a bit somewhat too much for my tastes, but on the whole this is a very nice track with some good tension building and some interesting effects. Some of the melodies are quite striking and if we compare a song like this to the more jam like 'compositions' of LTE, the songs on this album certainly have more structure and also I feel more melodic quality to them. A noisy opening characterizes Reflections. Then we get some quick acoustics and I'm reminded of Fripp's Crafty Guitarists. The melody is quite joyful in a way but the "vacuumcleaner" in the back makes for a nice contrast. A good thing, since I'm afraid the track would be boring without it. The second half of the track also features some of those Soundscape like parts. Megrez is a track composed by Gunn and Malone, but only Gunn plays on it. It is a dark track, rather moody. Singularity is something different altogether: a rather track with prominent bass work and a jazzrockish guitar. Then comes a noisier part where notes are almost wrenched from the neck of the guitar. The closing part is very melodic with some nice drumming. Redemption's Way is the third solo written Malone track. The song is very percussive and as such easily gets a world music atmosphere. Plenty of stick on this track as well with both Myung and Malone playing. The next one is a hard one for me. I do not like Bach, at least not his baroque compositions. I tend to like music for the emotion and melody and not as much for the esthetical quality of the composition, the cleverness of it. Komm Susser Tod, Komm Sel'ge however tells me that there can be more to Bach's music. I assume this is one of the religious pieces and quite introverted at that. A great piece. Rivers Dancing is a much longer track evoking visions of quick running water, downslope. Quick playing on this one, which contrasts with the slow tribal Srikara Tal. Slow moving tones on stick, clear percussion and touch guitar make this a very dreamy piece of music. Later on the music becomes more involved with themes intertwining, still the percussion stays the most prominent part of the song. The last track is a bonus track I guess. It is not noted on the back, but reading the booklet, I might just have been called [Grace]. Lots of guitars on this rather mellow, melodic track which ends in with Soundscapes making us go full circle to the opener Galois.

The layout, titling and lettering of the album seem to point at some kind of interest in mathematics and computer science.

Conclusion

What strikes me as the most important aspect of this album is the following: the strong melodic quality of the music, but that still after listening to the album you still have the idea of not having listened to melodic music. This comes of course from the sometimes quite dissonant sounds, the varied rhythms, the instrumentation and also the rather dark mood that still pervades the music. The music borrows from Fripps Soundscapes and also at times his Frippertronics and Crafty Guitarists, but is more varied than any of them. Also things like Tony Levin's Lone Bear come to mind and I often have the idea of listening to a Discipline released album. I wouldn't go as far as to call this album and instant classic, but it's a great effort and probably the best and consistent project so far.