Peep Show

They Say...

Review by Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Judging by this self-titled, self-released debut slab from Ann Arbor, MI's Arp of the Covenant on their Rock Is Dead label; rock really is dead, but somehow jazz fusion isn't. This trio, consisting of layers upon layers of keyboards, sound effects, laptop, drums and electric bass, isn't interested in being hip, they have something else to offer. What that is, exactly, is difficult to pin down, but it floats along some line between Klaus Schulze, Weather Report circa Mysterious Traveller or Black Market, and an electronic rock trio. Elements of jazz fusion are juxtaposed against strange electronics and elegant keyboards that sometimes ape a guitar in their melodic frameworks -- check the ballad "Jennifer." Other places are far more intense with modes and time signatures shapeshifting themselves along some groove heard only by the trio themselves. While the centerpiece of this band is obviously keyboardist Mark Siegenthaler, it's actually drummer Nick Zielinski who makes the thing groove. His small flourishes and uncluttered approach make the music here dance, hover, float and flit about. Bassist Brad Townsend is a pedal-heavy, effects-laden cat who understands how important it is to keep his basslines front and center for the other players to groove off. Townsend sets the pace often, as in "Mister Li Poses with His American Birthday Cake." As the tuner builds around him, Zielinski double times and begins his small battery of kit sounds and plays around inside the beat, while Siegenthaler takes it to the margin of space with a catchy little melody that repeats -- in the same way Joe Zawinul does -- while changing the modulations slightly. This is space age music from another present era. It pays no attention to the culture outside, only to the inner dimensions it seeks. And as such there are many slippery moments here where the thing actually takes off ("Blow By") and settles the listener into a place seemingly outside their continuum, particularly through headphones. You may have heard music like this before, but you haven't heard this music. Recommended.