Music is With You Wherever You Are: Ant Law & Alex Hitchcock

Bu yazının TÜRKÇESİ için tıklayınız.

Two marvelous musicians from the creative musician scene of Great Britain, saxophonist Alex Hitchcock and guitarist Ant Law have recorded an extremely dynamic recording Same Moon In The Same World released via Outside in Music, which is the first album in which the duo shared the group leadership, was recorded in different places and featured the likes of Joel Ross, Eric Harland, Linda Oh, Kendrick Scott, Shai Maestro, Tim Garland, Ben Williams, Jeff Ballard and Sun-Mi Hong. It is a powerhouse album with the participation of top-notch musicians, who also record albums in their own bands.

The compositions of the tracks in the album were divided in half by Law and Hitchcock, only the last track of the album After The Rain is a John Coltrane composition. Recordings taken between October 2020 and September 2021 were mixed by Sonny Johns in 2021 and mastered by Peter Beckman.

This album, which was created during the days when everyone was together “online”, because not all musicians could go on tour during the pandemic period, was knitted online in real time. The demos prepared by Law and Hitchcock were transmitted to their favourite musicians from different parts of the world and developed with their contributions. Since it is a project that spans the process, compositions that allow for detailed, multi layered solos have been prepared.

Quoting Murakami’s 1999 book Sputnik Sweetheart, “we’re both looking at the same moon in the same world. We’re connected to reality by the same line.” That quote can be accepted as a reference to the production practices of the artists in that catastrophic period. Behind this melodic approach of the album, there is an effort to touch human nature directly without wasting time on pursuits. However, in the background, there is the need for a human musical experience of music globally. Wherever we are, we are actually music lovers illuminated by a single moonlight, and this album is comprehensive enough to give a music lover sensory satisfaction from every angle.

I’ve listened to Ant Law on Emma Rawicz’s debut album Incantation and his style caught my attention. In this album, as in Law’s own composition Haven’t Meta Yet, he takes part in irregular and long form acoustic, electric and 8-string guitar solos, as well as extremely fluent or calm form guitars. The musical harmony of Shai Maestro as a successful storyteller with his lyrical piano playing and Linda Oh, is another remarkable piece of the album. The differences in interpretation of the songs by each of the 4 different drummers contribute greatly to the diversity of the album. The vibraphone parts of the Vivid and Salvo pieces attract attention as one of the recordings, as one of the performances in which the notable vibraphonist Joel Ross shines as an accompanist.

But the biggest stabilizer of the album is undoubtedly Alex Hitchcock. Hitchcock, who raises and lowers the tension in the most appropriate way to the tempo of the piece, not only receives praise for his compositions, but also acts as a catalyst that mixes all the layers in the music towards each other.