Jeremy Rose & the Earshift Orchestra: Discordia
Earshift Music

Discordia is a vital addition to the catalogue Jeremy Rose has been building through his Australian imprint Earshift Music over the past fifteen years. As the follow-up to Disruption! The Voice of Drums, the strong 202 album from the saxophonist, composer, and conductor and his Earshift Orchestra, Discordia (derived from the Latin term 'Vera Discordia,' meaning “discordant truths”) explores the ramifications of the information age, specifically the way it's cultivated obfuscation, sophistry, conflicting beliefs, and echo chambers—a depressing portrait of where we are now. It hardly surprises that one of the tracks is titled “Bring Back the Nineties” when those overwhelmed by the deluge of information pine for the simpler days of the pre-digital era.

To explore such ideas instrumentally, Rose sometimes pits one soloist against another or has entire sections square off. With drummer Chloe Kim driving the robust ensemble as she did on the earlier release, the Earshift Orchestra features five saxophones (two altos, two tenors, baritone), four trumpets, four trombones, guitar (Hilary Geddes), piano (Novak Manojlovic), and bass (Jacques Emery), with Rose conducting but also contributing soprano saxophone and bass clarinet to separate tracks. Some of Australia's most highly regarded players take part, including brothers Tom Avgenicos (trumpet) and Michael Avgenicos (tenor saxophone). Such resources enable Rose to fashion large-scale statements marked by intricate counterpoint and arrangements. By orchestra standards, an outfit numbering eighteen (the conductor included) is modest, but the Earshift Orchestra definitely punches above its weight class on Discordia, laid down in a Sydney studio on January 12, 2023.

Kim's the first musician heard on the release, with the firebrand's attack setting a tumultuous tone for the two-part “Vera Discordia.” Ostensibly a musical evocation of discordant realities colliding, the material sees horns splintering off into multiple directions when not uniting for epic pronouncements. The second part's not without a gentler moment or two, however, with Manojlovic tastefully embroidering the performance and the band engaging in slinky midtempo playing. Trumpeter Avgenicos enlivens the track with a solo before tangling with trombonist James Macaulay to reflect the thematic idea, which the ensemble in full takes up when dissonant cross-currents between sections surface thereafter.

Rose designed the musical character of the pieces to mirror their conceptual ideas. For example, both the title and compositional design of “Floating Just Beyond Reach” deal with the elusiveness of truth in the information age when instrumental fragments drift in search of coherence and clarity. To suggest the incessant deluge of information that bombards us in the modern age, Rose presents “Loudspeaker” as an urgent, large-scale expression delivered at full throttle. He brightens the mood with “Just for Laughs,” an uplifting, long-form expression that undertakes a slow but steady ascent and is spearheaded by a soaring soprano saxophone solo from the leader (his extended bass clarinet spotlight on the bluesy romantic meditation “Unverified Persona” is as riveting). Even sunnier is “Bring Back the Nineties,” a good-time track that underpins singing pop melodies with rock and shuffle grooves. At album's end, the turbulent cross-firing of “Echo Chamber” is energized by a scalding contribution from Geddes.

May 2024