The Nels Cline 4 – Currents, Constellations (2018) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Following the release of Nels Cline’s expansive Blue Note debut Lovers which found him fronting a 23-piece ensemble arranged by Michael Leonhart, the Wilco guitarist pares it down to The Nels Cline 4 for his latest project Currents, Constellations. The album features Cline alongside fellow guitarist and frequent collaborator Julian Lage, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Tom Rainey on a set of seven Cline originals plus one piece by composer Carla Bley. It’s a showcase of Cline’s versatility that veers from rollicking rock energy to avant-garde explorations to ballads of serene beauty.

Nels Cline is one of these fascinating marginal guitarists. Like Marc Ribot or Arto Lindsay. Navigating in experimental waters between jazz and rock, the Californian became Wilco’s main guitarist in 2004. A full-time job that doesn’t stop him from dabbling in a few solo projects here and there. And the result is always compelling, like with Lovers released by Blue Note in 2016, a record closer to the instrumental albums of the 1950s than the avant-garde treatises that Cline was often keen on.

Two years later with Currents, Constellations, he’s back onto a field more in tune with his DNA, leading a band called The Nels Cline 4, which is in fact the rebirth of his duo with guitarist Julian Lage (documented on the magnificent album Room released by Mack Avenue in 2014), complemented here by a five-star rhythmic made up of bassist Scott Colley and drummer Tom Rainey. A quartet of adventurers capable of wild swerves as well as more laidback, almost contemplative sequences. The complementarity of both guitarists is the secret to this never formulaic initiative, which will delight not only aficionados of jazz guitar, but many others too!

Tracklist
1 Furtive
2 Swing Ghost ’59
3 Imperfect 10
4 As Close As That
5 Amenette
6 Temporarily
7 River Mouth (Parts 1 & 2)
8 For Each, A Flower

Download:

mqs.link_TheNelsCline4CurrentsCnstellatins20182496.rar