The Point of it All, by Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz & Talking Pictures

The Point of it All

by Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz & Talking Pictures

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	1.	Interlude 06:02
	2.	The Sweetest Thing 03:01
	3.	Buttermilk Hill Suite 06:34
	4.	Sad Waltz 06:00
	5.	The Point of it All 03:34
	6.	Couch Alternate (alternate) 03:44
	7.	Tiny Swing 03:10
	8.	Against the Drift 03:12
	9.	10.15.07 07:55
	10.	The Scavenger Song 04:06
	11.	Electrical Storm 04:34
	12.	The Rain 10:16

about

"... The Point of It All focuses largely on the singer/songwriter's original material, and documents her first recorded collaboration with Vancouver, Canada-based Talking Pictures, whom Holcomb and Horvitz first met in 2006. More than any other Holcomb release to date, The Point of It All's blend of form and freedom represents a fuller consolidation, coming closest to representing her varied musical interests. Lyrically, as ever, Holcomb's messages, while strong, are delivered gently, without a big stick.

An improvising quartet that, with cellist Peggy Lee and drummer Dylan van der Schyff—also members of trumpeter Dave Douglas' Nomads, heard on the pliant Mountain Passages (Greenleaf, 2005)—is the perfect match for Holcomb and Horvitz, Talking Pictures proves as capable of angular spontaneity ("Interlude") as it is subtler interaction on the dark-hued "The Sweetest Thing," and straightforward interpretation on the appropriately titled instrumental, "Sad Waltz," where trumpeter Bill Clark's boxy tone works perfectly with guitarist Ron Samworth's nuanced electric accompaniment.

The focus is on Holcomb's writing, but contributions from Lee (the haunting "Against the Drift") and Samworth (the knotty, maelstrom-like but ultimately soft-ending "The Rain") fit perfectly within Holcomb's strangely tilted continuum. The group also covers Neil Young's "After the Goldrush," here turned into something resembling chamber folk, with a strangely angular but round-edged instrumental introduction leading to Holcomb's significantly reharmonized reading of Young' iconic song.

Creating memorably melodic songs with often-direct but always poetic lyrics, Holcomb's off-kilter writing turns even relatively direct songs like Robin Holcomb's "Electrical Storm"—revisited here, with van der Schyff's gentle pulse contrasting with the original's sharper backbeat—more melancholy. Like Frisell, Holcomb reveres the essence of song and its improvisational possibilities; but unlike the guitarist, her focus is ever-shifting, sometimes leaning towards the extemporaneous, other times the idiosyncratic structures that give her songs form. Expansive and deeply resonant, but in the quietest fashion possible, The Point of It All perfectly melds Holcomb's divergent interests, with a group of musicians who seem perfectly connected to her evocative world on an empathic, telepathic level." – John Kelman (All About Jazz)

credits

released January 1, 2010

Robin Holcomb - voice, piano, composition
Wayne Horvitz - Hammond B-3, piano
Ron Samwoth - electric and acoustic guitars
Bill Clark - trumpet
Peggy Lee - cello
Dylan van der Schyff - drums, percussion

Recorded November 8-9th, 2009 at the Factory Studios, Vancouver, Canada.

Engineer - John Raham
Mixing - Sheldon Zaharko
Mastering - Gramme Brown

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about

Dylan van der Schyff Melbourne, Australia

I'm an improvising percussionist based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.

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