Brian Slattery Photo
The crowd was small. But the music was huge.
In a show put together Nov. 2 at Neverending Books by New Haven musician Adam Matlock, three groups — Rallidae and Naked Roots Conducive, both from Brooklyn, and Matlock’s own project An Historic — explored what can happen if you take traditional song structures and pull them apart. The results were a compelling mix of the melodic and improvised.
Naked Roots Conducive is made up of Valerie Kuehne and Natalia Steinbach. Kuehne has visited New Haven before as a solo player and member of Prehistoric Horse, an improvisatory trio. In Naked Roots, Kuehne played cello and Steinbach played violin; both sang songs that they had composed, and proceeded to take apart — an impulse that extended to a stuffed fish that Kuehne ripped open and gutted halfway through the set.
Before.
After.
Kuehne and Steinbach have known each other since they were children, and the connection shows. They played boldly and marvelously together, with energy and drama.
Next up was Rallidae — Dustin Carlson on guitar, Scott Colberg on bass, Angela Morris on tenor saxophone, and Alex Samaras on the microphone, though at times they all sang, too.
Together they created eerie textures that melodies and songs emerged from, minute by minute, step by step. Samaras in particular stood out for his vocal inventiveness and flexibility. In one moment, he could be holding down a melody with confidence, and in the next, creating noise that sounded like static from a faraway radio.
Both groups were marked by their skill in pulling extremely diverse sounds from their chosen instruments, showing what songs, voices, wood, and metal can do when they’re employed with intelligence and energy.
Rounding out the evening was An Historic — composed for the evening of Chris Cretella on electric guitar, Adam Matlock on accordion and vocals, and your faithful correspondent on violin and banjo. Cretella and Matlock are both fixtures of New Haven’s improvised music scenes. Most recently, Cretella has completed a duo record with acclaimed guitarist Joe Morris, while Matlock played in Mario Pavone’s Accordion Project nonet this summer on several dates, including the Litchfield Jazz Festival. This evening, Matlock brought original pieces, both instrumental compositions and songs, that he invited the trio first to learn and then to disassemble with enthusiasm. Which they did.
Next at Neverending Books is another installment of the long-running Uncertainty Music Series, Saturday at 8 p.m. Don’t miss it.
