Great new music comes today in the form of Mind Screen, the latest album from the dynamic free jazz rockers Emergency Group. After releasing two fantastic LPs in 2023 – Venal Twin and Inspection of Cruelty – the Brooklyn-based group emerges even stronger in the summer of 2024 with their newest record.
The liner notes for the record, written by Jesse Jarnow, give us a look inside the minds of the quartet, which includes Jonathan Byerley (guitar), Dave Mandl (bass), Robert Boston (keys), and Andreas Brade (drums).
Mind Screen is the result of Emergency Group’s first extended studio visit. The group has been an improvisational unit from their first 2020 session, though they haven’t resisted composed material as much as they’ve never tried it. They entered Brooklyn’s Figure 8 studio in July 2023 with a couple of tunes and the gentle guidance of Chris Schlarb, the first time they’ve worked with a producer.
Now, I am not a musician or astute enough as a listener to see how this gentle direction created a new phase for Emergency Group. However, Mind Screen is every bit as appealing as what the group has done before.
The record starts with the title track, a nearly seven-minute romp that feels familiar territory for Emergency Group. Byerley’s guitar keeps the ominous tone we’ve all come to love, punctuated by Brade’s driving drums and Boston’s ethereal keys. It feels like the whole point of the song is to throw the listener off-kilter. While “Mind Screen” is beautiful in its own twisted way, this is a harsher form of free jazz-rock that scrambles your brain instead of soothes it.
“What’s Yours Is Mine” comes next and contains multitudes within an epic runtime of over thirteen minutes. This track’s mood is more mellow, and Boston’s keys sound sublime and gentle. The cerebral textures of kosmische are evident, and everything is free to wander in the greater cosmic scheme.
“Spirit Logic” is even more ambitious as a seventeen-minute composition. The song continues the galactic echoes of “What’s Yours Is Mine,” featuring the quartet’s unrestrained dialogue and improvisational mind-meld. The slower, more meditative pace eventually picks up, giving way to intense, almost violent, outbursts of enthusiasm.
Mind Screen closes with “Julien,” a short track delving deeper into kosmische territory with lush, ambient textures. The use of space is particularly effective on “Julien,” enabling the listener to become fully absorbed. Except for a few intense moments, the song is a deep breath amidst the album’s more frenetic passages, providing excellent balance and contrast.
For fans of adventurous music that blurs the lines between genres, Mind Screen is an essential listen. Deep in the Brooklyn underground scene, keep your eyes fixed on what Emergency Group is doing because they’re making the type of free jazz and jazz-rock fusion that few are replicating today.
Check out Mind Screen by Emergency Group on Bandcamp here.
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