As the title implies, Disagreements Vol. 1 isn’t something that could reasonably be described as “easy listening.” It’s a new Island House Recordings release, dropped on June 19th, from the trio of Prymek, Fuchs, Rose, an avant-garde group of adventurers operating out of Salt Lake City.
The group of friends brings different styles to the record, and they all clash quite violently but still create a record with a coherent sound. Rose has an eruptive approach to the keys, Fuchs drums in a frenetic free jazz style, as if he gives no fucks, and Prymek approaches the guitar with an angular style that is hard to contain or define.
Beyond the music, each member brings an eclectic background from the Salt Lake City scene. Prymek is a prolific musician, curator, and visual artist with work released under his own name, as Lake Mary, and as part of the ambient-jazz quartet Fuubutsushi. He also co-runs the boutique label Profane Illuminations Editions and curates the Yardwork Presents concert series.
Rose is a free-improv pianist, while Fuchs wears many hats: musician, producer, designer, and board-game enthusiast, releasing solo work under the name Passive Tourist. When these three converge on Disagreements, they produce a collision of twisted sound, veering through noise-rock terrain while retaining the unpredictable spirit of free jazz.
All five tracks are at least ten minutes long, including the closer, a live cut called “Leaving the Turtle’s Navel.” This one has a run time of almost twenty-six minutes, riding waves of pure dissonance and anarchy.
The opener, “Cold In Blue Hands,” bursts out as a swirling wreck of sound and style. Fuchs’ loose, jazz-inflected drumming ricochets against Prymek’s fractured guitar noise, while Rose’s keys tether the chaos to more familiar jazz idioms.
Things get stranger on “Test Footage,” a restless, shape-shifting piece where Prymek’s guitar drifts into even more abstract territory with sharp turns, unexpected textures, and improvised detours that keep the trio in a state of constant, anxious motion.
They stretch out and simmer on “Not Verb, But Vertigo,” a sprawling, eighteen-minute meditation that trades volume for volatility. It’s quieter, but just as unruly, full of tension and uncanny twists.
“Stucco Housing Development” is a work of nervous energy and spasmic motion, a cathartic release that plays like an abstract expressionist experiment. If the trio were painters, they’d be hurling paint at a blank canvas, letting instinct and impact guide the composition.
Disagreements is an unusual instrumental record from a label (Island House) that specializes in this type of fare. You may not be able to fall asleep to this one, but if you dig something more unhinged, this is for you.
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