Colin Stetson is amazing. Truly, I believe he is one of the most unique artists making music today. Colin is a saxophonist who records his songs in one take with multiple microphones placed strategically on his body and on his instrument. He utilizes "circular breathing" which allows him to play nonstop for the entire duration of the song. The microphones pick up the sounds of the keys clacking creating a percussive element, there are microphones on his throat to pick up his voice as he sings/screams into his instrument, and on the instrument itself to pick up the sound of the sax. Even if his music does not appeal to you, his technical ability is really impressive:
Enough fawning over Mr. Stetson... let's talk about the album itself. I really enjoyed this album! I think I like Vol. 2 a little better, but the two are very similar. On Vol. 2, he has Shara Worden contribute vocals on a couple tracks, and I absolutely love her voice. On Vol. 3, he has Justin Vernon of Bon Iver on a few tracks. I really like the pairing of Justin's falsetto with the whirling sax arpeggios, but it gets better when Justin is singing in a lower range, and even better on "Brute", which is the closest you can get to Black Metal on a sax. Justin growls and screams on top of Colin's machine-like sax riffs to great effect.
Just as I did with Vol. 2, I found myself wondering if Colin really recorded certain sounds all in one take and only on sax. I could swear he hired a violinist on one track, and I can hardly believe he doesn't over-dub ghostly singing on "High Above the Green Sea". But apparently that is him, singing through his sax as he is playing.
The album as a whole sports some tracks that seem very similar to one another, which is kind of a bummer. But he more than makes up for it with the 15-minute behemoth "To See More Light". That song... it is just so damn good.
It's really cool how he is able to create this vivid world for the listener with his single instrument. While listening, I envision a grey, wet, war-torn world akin to The Road.
All in all, I am enamored with this album, and highly recommend it. Below are two tracks to check out, one with Justin Vernon, and then the 15-minute masterpiece I mentioned earlier.
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