Typical Sisters: Hungry Ghost
Outside In Music

If Gregory Uhlmann (guitar), Clark Sommers (bass), and Matt Carroll (drums) sound inordinately comfortable with one another on Typical Sisters' sophomore effort, part of the reason has to do with their long history. The first hookup happened a decade ago in Chicago when high schooler Uhlmann and University of Miami jazz student Carroll jammed with Sommers, a working New York musician home for a Christmas visit. When the playing flowed so effortlessly, the three immediately realized their rapport was something special and so continued playing whenever schedules permitted. Eventually, the three began writing for the group, leading to its self-titled debut and three years later Hungry Ghost. And that group name? Purposefully chosen to reflect the intimacy, synergy, and trust that's natural to sisterhood.

Sommers' comment that the group understands “it's about the architecture of the tune and the melody of the tune first” is borne out by the material's emphasis on songcraft; improvisation is present, certainly, but it grows organically out of song structure, the latter never regarded as a mere steppingstone for soloing but as an imperative foundation from which it emerges. Connections to other artists can be easily drawn, from Tortoise and Can to Frisell and Cooder, but the years spent playing together's allowed the trio to alchemize influences into a Typical Sisters persona. In like manner, traces of rock, jazz, folk, krautrock, experimental, and minimalism surface in the nine tunes though blended so inextricably the results become genre-transcending.

The trio's rapport is instantly evident in the opening title track, which rolls out on a smooth, swinging wave, Carroll powering the robust tune with galloping fills and Uhlmann punctuating the breeze with chords and textural detours; add in a few phase-shifting treatments for experimental flavour and the result's a fine scene-setter for the eight other tracks. Typical Sisters animates Sommers' “To The Landing” with a funky, Tortoise-styled post-rock-by-way-of-drum'n'bass pulse over which the guitarist drapes crystalline melodies. A bit of African highlife surfaces in Uhlmann's spidery lines, the performance motoring forth determinedly when not pausing for a serene moment or two.

The balance struck between space and playing is never better heard than during “The Comeback Kid,” at eight adventurous minutes the longest cut. Using a loping acoustic bass figure and a recurring guitar motif as structural glue, the three otherwise perform with a fluidity that bespeaks long partnerships. Also characteristic of the group is the dramatic directional shift that arrives three-quarters of the way through, the change in this instance from breezy jazz trio interplay to raw experimentalism, Uhlmann seemingly channeling Derek Bailey in the cut's final laps.

The intricate yet still freewheeling compositional byplay of “Goner” lends support to one listener's likening of Typical Sisters to Do Make Say Think, whereas Uhlmann's “Benjamin” opts for loose, deep-rooted American folk of the kind Frisell's perfected over the years, even if the Sisters give the backporch track a weird experimental twist midway through. Disrupting a sweet, melodious surface with a disharmonious undertow is a card the trio plays more than a few times on the recording, though never objectionably so.

April 2019