We checkout this SACD recording of Hiromi’s latest album Sonicbloom, Time Control.
Hiromi Uehara has made a virtue of leaping between jazz genres on each of her albums, churning avant garde atonality balanced by lyrical balladeering, evocative expressionism segueing into jazz-rock fusion, bop, ragtime and more. Her fourth album in as many years is also her most focused, for good or ill, with her regular trio augmented by fusion guitarist David Fiuczynski.
Her virtuosity and energetic enthusiasm are very much in evidence, but there’s something a bit strained about the stop-start rhythms and forced time signature changes that seem to conspire against emotion and settle instead for artful noodling – probably more fun to do than to listen to.
There are detailed notes on the recording technicalities on the sleeve, right down to the manufacturers of the cables and mixing console, which is nice. Regardless, the sound is exceptionally clean and precise, which only serves to make the playing sound all the more clinical.
