James Mainwaring (tenor & soprano saxophones,
electronics), Luke Wynter (guitar, electric bass & electronics) & Luke
Reddin-Williams (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Roller Trio gig extensively across the country honing their
live sound (winning accolades along the way) and their second album Fracture (and Lamplight Social Records
first CD) retains the immediacy of their live gig sound. Roller Trio’s sound is
of its time. Twenty-somethings listen to it and move to it on the student hip-hop
dance floor. Of its time, will it stand the test of time?
The Leeds College of Music alumni are seriously good
musicians (college chops) and the legend is they spent hour after hour
perfecting their sound. Fracture is
full of beats, tunes and derring-do escapades. Roller Trio play the seemingly
impossible because they can. A CD of ten tracks, the first few are executed
with a bravado of the twenty-something. Reef
Knot opens the recording with typical shifting patterns and unexpected
twists and turns.
Constant gigging makes some numbers familiar to the ear; 2 Minutes to 12 is one such. A hallmark
Roller Trio sound, drummer Luke Reddin-Williams and guitarist Luke Wynter
achieve stunning accuracy and James Mainwaring’s tenor is forever probing – a
riff, then another idea, hints at balladry, restless in the extreme. A Wynter
composition – Splinter – features the
recorded debut of Mainwaring on soprano saxophone. Live he has played the
soprano occasionally, here, a documented first, there is little to choose
between the two.
One or two tracks veer from the searing sound associated
with the trio to the sound world sketched out by Jan Garbarek and, latterly,
Tim Garland. Indeed another of Mainwaring’s projects – Space Flight – tracks a similar orbit. Fracture is sure to meet with the approval of Roller Trio’s fan
base. Its significance will become apparent when Lamplight Social is about to
release CD number ten. Fracture is released today (Monday 8
December) on the in-house label Lamplight
Social Records (LSRCD001).
Russell.
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