Despite being known for her skills as a drummer (Fiona Apple), producer and Grammy winner Amy Aileen Wood is happy to stay out of the spotlight. Based on the high standard and strength of her new solo album, The Heartening, she may not be able to evade this much longer. Playing everything from balafon to kalimba, octobans, synths, gamelan strips, gong strips, Linn Drum and a variety of percussion tools, she has created an album that, in just over half an hour, is a tour de force encompassing jazz and a variety of jazz forms in a most appealingly experimental blend. The Heartening is the epitome of everything great music should be.
Merging form and function, her music is as experimental as the solo work of Glenn Kotche (Wilco) or David Van Tiegham’s explorations of everything from Safety in Numbers to his radical reworking of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Her work on Rolling Stops combines an array of wordless vocals from Fiona Apple. At the same time, drums and keys create a work where improvisation and arranged forms join forces to generate a most exhilarating vibe. Her piano passages are more jazz-oriented, and forms go farther afield in places, hitting a similar vibe to the one Bill Bruford touched on with Annette Peacock on Bruford back in 1978.
With reference to past treasures aside, there is nothing dated in her playing, bridging the gap between serving a side role and being the band leader. Hiccups illustrates a quiet approach, with bass, drums and piano displaying the subtle discomfort growing louder before the piano enters with a pretty melody. With a confluence of styles on display, Wood and producer Pete Min make sure even the most experimental sounds never overstay their welcome. When Min approached Wood about doing a solo album, they got a lukewarm reception. Yet, over time, she saw the glory in making a record mixing the frenetic with the tranquil.
Tuned percussion and piano create a soft focus for Number Zero. Despite the soft surroundings, the song imperceptibly grows more exploratory before leaving with a lyrical sax solo. Some sonic shifts seem almost imperceptible before the realization strikes that the endpoint is nowhere near where the song began. Somehow, the skill of Wood and Min holds the entire collection in focus.
How a percussionist can play as much as she does, as gently as she does on The Valley, exposes that being busy doesn’t have to be distracting as her piano avoids the frenzied multitude of beats bolstering the bottom end. It’s a remarkable performance in just 2:17. The unqualified joy Apple attaches to her vocals on Time For Everything mirrors Wood’s unerring delight in finding rhythmic possibilities. The song ends with a funk fest miles away from the opening notes on tuned percussion.
Merging the heavenly vocals of Slow Light with piano, then blending in an exotic array of rhythms, Amy Aileen Wood reveals how music tantalizes as it triggers a variety of pathways to explore. The Heartening is challenging but also invigorating and rewarding as it examines the rhythms of a percussionist in a class of her own.
Out April 29 Via L.A.’s Colorfield Records.