Musk Ox: Inheritance
Musk Ox

Raphael Weinroth-Browne: Worlds Within Live
Raphael Weinroth-Browne

textura visitors will already be familiar with Raphael Weinroth-Browne for his work in the duo project Kamancello and his own solo recordings, all of which have received coverage in these pages. Another outfit with which the Ottawa-based cellist is involved, Musk Ox, is also very much deserving of attention and enhances one's appreciation for his considerable talent. With violinist Evan Runge and classical guitarist Nathanael Larochette joining the cellist, the Canadian trio specializes in a seamless blend of gothic folk and chamber classical genres on its stirring third release Inheritance, the long-gestating follow-up to 2014's Woodfall. As all three members participate in solo and group projects outside of Musk Ox, the trio benefits from the experiences each brings to the shared endeavour.

A particular process is used to develop their material. Using guitar, Larochette brings the pieces to a skeletal form before handing them off to Weinroth-Browne, who adds string parts and shepherds the arrangements to a further stage of refinement. Hours are then spent playing, revising, and rearranging until they deem the material ready for recording. What's presented on Inheritance isn't, therefore, improvisation, however much the group's playing might feel in-the-moment born. Each setting has clearly been assembled meticulously, with obvious care given to development, overall shape, and contrasts.

The expressive, vocal-like cry of the opening string motif imbues “Inheritance (Part 1- Premonition)” with grandeur, after which the music assumes a deeply affecting plaintive quality. With strings keening in tandem, elegant picking by Larochette intensifies the majestic lilt of the material. Urgent and animated by comparison is “Inheritance (Part 2-Hindsight),” which is pushed forward by a 9/8 rhythm. The hypnotic piece offers arguably the best example of Musk Ox's artistry in the way the three enfold their instruments' patterns around one another during the nearly eighteen-minute performance. Counterpoint between the strings makes the music all the more engrossing, but passages showcasing the trio's playing as a unit are as powerful. Stabbing accents give the louder episodes heightened drama, but even more powerful is the immense climax. “Memoriam” and “Weightless” seem delicate compared to material of such intensity (though the latter does build to an aggressive pitch of its own), but they're no less entrancing when both are grounded in swaying rhythms and intricate patterning. Using nothing more than three acoustic instruments, the trio casts an extremely potent spell on this recording. In sum, Inheritance is a magnificent forty-eight-minute statement from the band and inarguably a must-have for Musk Ox fans.

Complementary to the trio set is one issued concurrently with it, Worlds Within-Live. Its title'll likely be familiar to those who've been following Weinroth-Browne's career, as the originating Worlds Within volume was issued in early 2020. So why a second iteration so soon? The cellist explains that even after the release of Worlds Within he felt that he was still getting to know the music in the fullest sense, and that in learning to recreate the album live a higher level of clarity resulted that in turn brought him to better appreciate the impulse that originated the project. That cyclical return, reminiscent of the to-and-fro associated with the hermeneutic circle, is itself mirrored in the forty-minute work's design, which sees it end where it also begins.

As he's playing unaccompanied and live, acoustic cello is augmented by amplifiers and effects pedals to generate loops and layers. The work begins almost cautiously with long, understated tones, but “Unending I-From Within” quickly swells in strength and stature. With a dense, heaving base established, a rapturous lead melody is draped overtop to amplify the music's supplicating quality. While the ten-minute statement is largely meditative, midway through a plucked pattern emerges to initiate forward momentum and foreshadow the high-velocity passages to come. With a bass drum pulse and syncopated bass throb driving the material, the energy level rises for “From Above,” after which the pace picks up even more for “Tumult I-II-III,” with its hoedown swing elevated by a funky gallop in its infectious, techno-like groove. During the final part, “Tumult IV-Fade (Afterglow)-Unending II,” the music decompresses as the rhythms subside and the mood returns to a contemplative and even serene state.

September 2021