ThoughtCast: Nimbus in Motion
Shifting Paradigm

While it's hardly the most important detail about this debut recording by ThoughtCast, it's worth noting that mastering for the project was handled by Nate Wood, the versatile drummer (plus bassist) for Kneebody. While no would mistake one band for the other—the presence of Ben Wendel's saxophone in the latter and Jake Baldwin's trumpet in ThoughtCast precludes that possibility—there are overlaps. Like Kneebody, ThoughtCast's music captivates with an invigorating mishmash of jazz, rock, funk, and hip-hop and pulls listeners in with inventive grooves and inspired interplay. The brainchild of Twin Cities bassist Graydon Peterson, the quartet's rounded out by fellow Shifting Paradigm artist Baldwin (whose Where You're Planted was itself a 2021 highlight), keyboardist Joe Strachan, and drummer Ben Ehrlich. As critical as each is to Nimbus in Motion, Peterson's very much the one in charge, not only for leading from the bass chair but for writing the tunes too.

He's a first-call player in the Twin Cities area and earlier issued two albums under the Graydon Peterson Quartet name. While it too is a foursome, ThoughtCast, founded in 2017, has an identity all its own thanks to the personnel involved and the material Peterson crafted with its members in mind. Its sound is very much grounded in the compositions he wrote and the heady, hard-hitting interpretations the four bring to them. As its title track and the cover art intimates, the album took inspiration from clouds morphing into thunderstorms, and the performances embody the concept in their forcefulness. Baldwin and Strachan expand on the quartet's jazz quartet persona with effects pedals, and synthesizers and electronics imbue the music with a sleek sheen.

A loping pulse and bleepy synth figure in “Feeling Unprepared” catch the ear immediately, though the time signature twists that intertwine, not to mention Baldwin's electrified horn and Strachan's electric piano, prove as arresting. After that strong statement of intent, the title track sees the trumpeter wailing across an ever-shifting base and the blustery “Found Myself Running” tickling the senses with a tight 5/8 pulse. While the outfit deftly locks into multiple tricky grooves during head-spinners such as “Mina and Kathleen” and “When Logic Fails,” not everything's so high-intensity. “Here and Now” reflects the band's capacity for jazz swing, and “The Bellhop,” inspired by a dream Peterson had, brings forth a moody and introspective side of the band.

January 2023