By Sammy Stein
Imagine. The world has self-destructed. Armageddon. People were begging the powerful to think, the bullies to rein in their power, and those who have everything to share with those who have nothing. They didn’t listen. Greed, power, desire, and a compulsion to control everything continued unabated until eventually Armageddon happened. Not a surprise, not unpredictable. Now there is nothing left. All is dark and still.
Apart from a single flower. Among the dark, hidden deep within the rubble and detritus of what was once a beautiful world, is a flower – once named in binomial Latin with a genus and specific epithet, but now simply the Armageddon flower. Her body unfurls slowly, tentatively seeking the last tepid rays of sunshine that filter weakly through the dust and sediments that swirl above the Earth.
Like angel rays, shafts of light caress this delicate little flower. The rays deliver not only light but also sound. The energy the flower needs to grow relies not only on earthly components for photosynthesis – carbon dioxide and water, but also on the energy music provides. At first tiny and insignificant, her petals tightly furled, the little flower begins to bloom, striving toward the light, phototropism compelling the leaves and stem upwards, geotropism pulling the roots deep into the soil, anchoring her to the Earth, seeking out nutrients that remain, allowing the flower to grow ever stronger.
The power of this music enables the flower to grow and bloom ever larger, her golden petals casting a glow of hope and wonderful colour across the Earth.
Sound like a fairy story? Maybe, but this album was created in a dream-like state, and the musicians felt truly drawn to create something far greater than Mankind’s weaknesses and compulsions had allowed.
The music has a power of its own. Ivo Perelman and the Matthew Shipp Trio are the perfect vessels to channel this force. The Matthew Shipp trio comprises pianist Matthew Shipp (with whom Perelman has made over 40 recordings), bassist William Parker, and violinist Mat Maneri. All have performed and recorded together. The trio is teamed with Perelman, who brings the music together with his tenor saxophone, and like the others, shows fearless exploration and intuitive interpretation.
Improvised music delivered by inexperienced musicians can convey nothing to the listener but the awkwardness of a musician not understanding how they and their instrument are a vessel whose purpose potentially has a higher calling than any teaching can give, if only they immerse and subject their spirit to what happens when they interact with others. Here, then, for anyone, is the ultimate lesson in doing that.
On ‘Armageddon Flower’, each musician brings their immense experience, understanding, and connection to each other and those who listen truly. The lengthy tracks have time to develop, discuss, and seek an unfolding of the layers to enlighten and inspire.
The intensity of this music is almost shocking – and so it should be, based as it is on the possibility of Mankind’s self-destruction and seeking to understand what lies ahead in the eternity that awaits us all.
From the beginning of civilisation, Womankind (and Mankind) has been struggling with the inevitability of their death, and many philosophers have considered the destructive nature of our species. In this music, the destructive sits alongside hope, the ultimate beauty and power of even the tiniest scrap of life left, to flourish, blossom, and scatter darkness aside, as it grows in power.
All four musicians are fearless in pursuit of perfect communication. On Armageddon Flower, the impossible is possible; what is out of reach is close at hand, and what was lost is found.
At times, it feels not like the Matthew Shipp Trio with Ivo Perelman, but a well-melded quartet.
As ever, the music is not set in time or length, and the conversations differ in intensity and emotion, but each is expressive. ‘Pillar of Light’ is a non-stop confluence of different streams, patterns, timing, and responses, particularly between Shipp and Perelman – something they naturally fall into as like-minded musicians. Storytelling is their forte, and on this track, the stories are urgent and essential, but the ultimate quietude is felt by everyone.
‘Tree of Life’ is intense, with billowing waves of sound that enfold the listener, carrying them as they take various sonic pathways leading who knows where. Shipp’s intensity on piano, coupled with Perelman’s tranced screeching at one point, feels like they are going to run out of notes. Ultimately, the conversation is brought back, the other musicians are included, and Maneri’s delicately positioned phrases create a texture and depth, along with Parker’s intuitive bass, so the music becomes fulsome and rich. Shipp and Perelman achieve an almost telepathic state where the piano lines echo and then contrast with the sax lines.
‘Armageddon Flower’ sets out as a powerful track, with staccato chords pumping from Shipp alongside melodic lines from Maneri and Perelman, before it evolves into a chorale of sounds with each instrument suggesting movement, another retracting and tracing another possibility, ideas exchanged, interwoven and discussed in this intimate and intense conversation – it feels like four artists of different styles decided to create a sonic mural with the essence of each of their art. Just beautiful.
‘Restoration’ is a dream of a track, with gentleness, contemplative elements, and an overarching sense of finality, as the title suggests, of restoration to peace and a grounding of the spirit.
Armageddon Flower is an emotive album, but it is also exquisitely musical. Four musicians of this calibre could have chosen to seek solo recognition, dominate, or lead, but this is never the case. Leads are swapped, responses given, and there is a sense of true communication.
Amid the spontaneity, the quartet never loses harmonic groundings. There is not only the close relationship and symbiosis of the musicians but also evidence of their differences in approach, interpretation, and responses to sonic suggestions.
After over thirty years of playing together, separately, in duos, ensembles, and many different combinations, it is impossible not to be surprised that new perspectives can be heard in this music. It is as if the musicians, in spending time apart, then coming together, bring new learning and experiences, which are shared in music. This is deeply intense, madly evocative, and supremely well-worked music.
Ultimately, the best way to try to understand what music means to musicians is to ask them. Of this recording, Perelman says,
“This album is a landmark. I will probably not record again after this, the way I used to. I think I have reached the ultimate result with this band.
The reviews have been outstanding. Luckily, many reviewers hear the importance, relevance, and uniqueness of this band, which propelled its effectiveness. Those are words from the musicians and critics, not just mine.
The Armageddon Flower is the flower I believe will be left after self-destruction. That is how gloomy and dark I felt when I made this. Although the music brought me a lot of joy, I have been following a lot of World politics, which is awful.
Many will understand how demineralised soils are, how vegetables are poor in nutrition compared to how they were just a few decades ago, how the health of the World’s population has declined, and how World health authorities manipulate facts and studies to be able to sell medicines that are not effective at all but cause more side effects. All that. So I felt very dark, and I think the world situation, as I am describing it, propelled the session to achieve its intensity. It is so intense that it is unbearable. At the same time, it is the freest album I have ever recorded. We all agreed. Matt Shipp can’t quite believe how free this is. The rhythm is so pliable and mercurial, it is ridiculous. I have never heard anything like it. And it is not just me saying this, I wasn’t even there. It was my fingers moving, channelling forces that were beyond my control. It was a dream – I woke up and the album was done. The same goes for everybody else. We feel incredibly proud and incredulous about how this album came about. I know I am always excited about my projects, but this is the one. This is a once-in-a-lifetime project.”
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