Words by Justin Turford
If you’ve ever tried meditation then you will know that the trickiest task is quietening the mind. The multiple thoughts and voices that narrate, guide and complicate our waking hours can be an overwhelming cacophony when we switch off our digital diversion devices and attempt to find a moment of inner balance.
Jazz harpist and composer Maria-Christina Harper returns with her trio made up of herself, drummer Evan Jenkins and saxophonist Josephine Davies to examine and reflect on her own personal experiences in seeking calm. “I describe this album as my mindfulness diary.. its restless soundscape mirrors the frustration of trying – sometimes winning, sometimes failing – to find stillness through meditation”.
Building on the trio’s excellent debut album ‘Passing By’ (review here: https://www.truthandliesmusic.com/magazine/harper-trio-passing-by-little-yellow-man-records-a-review), the new record is both a continuum and a clear statement of creative growth by the band who deservedly picked up wide acclaim for their strikingly new perspective on the use of the harp in jazz. We even booked them to perform for our programme last year on the Pinters stage at the award-winning Houghton Festival, their electrified and evocative music warmly embraced by an audience more used to the tough electronic thump that makes up the core of the festival’s curation.
Recorded in the legendary Abbey Road Studios, they have thankfully resisted the addition of multi-layering other instruments on ‘Dialogue Of Thoughts’, maintaining the sonic honesty of their debut album. The ‘dialogue’ of the album title is an apt description of how the trio operate when they play together. This isn’t just a vehicle for Maria-Christina’s harp, they share musical conversations, be it moments of gentleness or strident explosiveness, the music is to be fed not the ego. And it is this seeking of an egoless freedom from the mind’s sometimes turbulent struggle that is the fuel for the album.
To be clear, stillness may be the objective but ‘Dialogue of Thoughts’ isn’t some ambient jazz record. Compositions that offer a meditative sense of calm are present but there are also tracks that offer more urgency than their first record. Wilder elements of free jazz, a biting psyche buzz and musical (and historical) aspects of Maria-Christina’s Egyptian and Greek roots are all stirred into the pot to great effect.
The truly lovely ‘Quiet Mind’ begins this journey. An emotionally potent yet delicate harp repetition holds a sedate pace as Josephine breathes out a slowly expanding horn line, Evan contributing sparse rumbles and rare splashes. As much ghostly folk as jazz, the piece is a deep lungful of air before the forceful drive of ‘Walk’, a perpetual motion machine of escalating energy that grabs you from the opening bars. Maria-Christina’s growling harp bassline and the drums contain a post-rockish meatiness whilst Josephine’s mixture of hard, tight hooks and spontaneous bursts of sound shake with viscerality. Not unlike the sonic aesthetic of artists like The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis, this is new territory for the trio and it suits them.
The smoky groove of ‘Ephemeral Now’ starts simply but grows in expressive stature. Maria-Christina’s signature, brightly coloured harp sound is at its finest here as Evan lays down a languid funk groove that develops seamlessly into a waltz as Josephine’s sings through her saxophone. Autumnal, graceful and a great trio performance.
The unsettling ‘Inner Thoughts’ could easily be from an obscure art-horror film from the 1970s or 80s. With its confused chattering of voices (friends, family and band members alike), eerie detuned chords (on a vintage keyboard perhaps or just Maria-Christina’s effects pedals?) and flashes of sharpened harp chords, saxophone and brushed snare, the atmosphere is both ethereal and strange. The words spoken are in fact segments of text from the ancient texts of The Orphic Hymns, Greek poems from antiquity dedicated to religious deities - in this case, the Big Man, Zeus.
As the piece comes to a halt, the opaquely titled ‘Dialogue Fusion Politics’ explodes into action, a roaring ride of punky, proggy chaos with a brilliant stop/start moment that proves that the musicians are in deadly synch with each other.
‘Madness While Trying To Meditate’ harnesses some of the same fiery energy but with a tighter focus. A woozy, shimmering centrepiece of glissando harp and slowly uncurling saxophone is bookended by a pummelling punk-jazz groove with Eastern scales and a dirty psychedelic sensibility. Killer.
We enter a state of grace on ‘In Between Dreams’, a beautiful circular dance of looping harp, gorgeously played saxophone and precisely scattered brushwork from Evan. Evocative, ethereal and emotionally vivid, this piece, once again, touches on my attachment to pastoral folk as well my love for spiritually-charged jazz. Sensational in more ways than one.
Maria-Christina returns again to her Egyptian heritage on ‘Sometime In Cairo’. The trippy modal jazz of ‘In Cairo / Grandma’s Coat’ was a standout track from their debut LP and maybe this can be seen as a darker-mooded sibling. Powerful in its restraint, the harp is both a minimalist rhythm line and a harmonic builder. Evan, as always, never overplays the groove, his swinging hi-hats and one drop bass drum perfectly aligned with the looping harp as Josephine swirls and uncoils within and without Maria-Christina’s passionately delivered plucks and strums. Repeated listening unveils some exquisite interplay by the trio, Cairo appearing to be a rich vein of inspiration.
The closing track arrives in two parts. ‘Moving On (Intro)’ is a short piece with spoken words inspired by the ancient Delphic Maxims. Over a sustained drone, the band members calmly deliver overlapping moral phrases (in Greek and English), as relevant now as they were centuries ago - “Know Yourself”, “Find Fault With No One” etc - ancient philosophical wisdoms and ethics that could be pithy hippie advice but are really quite moving here.
The second part of ‘Moving On’ feels like the closing ceremony that I suppose it is. Again that pastoral folksiness, permeated by a love of nature and of each other as they breathe out after the turmoil, the mind finally at rest. Quite the journey.
Produced with a startling clarity, ‘Dialogue Of Thoughts’ sees the three piece expanding their language as they reach a new level of synergy. If their debut unveiled a fresh avenue for the harp in jazz, then this album has widened that avenue into a road such is its fearless experimentation and cross-genre playfulness. A fantastic step forward for Harper Trio. 9/10.
Catch them on tour now! https://mariachristinaharper.com/#tour
BUY HERE! https://mariachristinaharper.bandcamp.com/album/dialogue-of-thoughts