I’m not sure what it is about the state of Illinois, but when it comes to math rock and wild music you’ve never heard before, they’ve got it covered. Many excellent post-rock and math rocks band hail from Illinois and the Chicago area, most notably Piglet, and American Football from Champaign-Urbana. This region cultivates distinctive sounds and rare displays of incredible music.
Nimitta is a two-piece experimental math rock group from Chicago, Illinois; and has released six albums since their creation. Melt Joy, their most recent album, offers a look into the murky world of improvised mathematical madness. Consisting of nine blistering tracks, Melt Joy is a sonic hurricane; a chaotic scramble of distortion and clarity.
At first listen, Melt Joy is a mess. It is angular and unorthodox, and can almost be difficult to listen to. Although this isn’t uncommon for Nimitta, whose other releases are just as turbulent as Melt Joy, it’s important to know that Melt Joy is 100% improvised. This gives way to the undulating song structures (or sometimes the lackthereof), and crooked syncopation, which saturates this album.
Despite the oblique nature of Melt Joy, it is rife with evidence of control, and is highly ordered. Elements present in jazz and bebop give the otherwise lawless compositions structure. Repeated elements and common rhythms bring a sense of order to the madness. However, this doesn’t cover up the fact that Melt Joy is raw, organic, crude. It is coarse and crass in the best ways possible. Melt Joy is a rickety armature made sturdy by layers of fuzz and grime. The synthesis of wailing guitars and frenzied drumming creates something unexpected, yet captivating.
What draws the ear to this album is the constantly changing atmospheres created by each song. Each track is a unique sonic collage; a composition of shrieking guitar, unearthly saxophone, and brutal drumming. Almost the entire album is instrumental, but moments of indistinguishable vocals rise out of the mire, only to disappear again. Often times the vocals are pitched down or severely distorted. Guitar elements are frequently played backwards or quickly looped, which can be disorienting. Drummer Collin Benson also plays saxophone on several tracks. The saxophone is distorted and gnarled, making it sound like less of a brass instrument and more like the cry of an animal.
In many instances, the roles of rhythm and melody instrument seem to be reversed. The drums will be absolute mayhem while guitarist Rob Poznanski maintains a patterned, rhythmic riff. The guitar becomes rhythmic, while the percussion appears to be melodic.
My personal favorite track off Melt Joy is Shelter From Flies. The constant cycle between anglular riffs and syncopated melodies is most enjoyable. The drums weave in and out of the cycle in fierce waves.
https://nimitta1.bandcamp.com/album/melt-joy
