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When we recently spoke with the Nathan Bowles Trio, featuring Nathan, Rex McMurray and Casey Toll, about Are Possible (read the interview here), their first full album as a trio, they suggested a key moment in their coming together was the song The Road Reversed from Nathan’s 2018 album Plainly Mistaken, a set that sees half of the songs played as this trio set up. The deep groove of The Road Reversed is all over this record, but this one sees writing credits split between the band, a detail that is present in the sound.
Take the lead single, The Ternions, as an example; after a strummed acoustic guitar intro, drums, double bass and banjo kick into a rhythm that immediately makes you smile. The three players are so well in tune with each other and the sound is such a balanced combination of all three percussive instruments that it almost becomes irrelevant what is being played and by whom. This egalitarian approach to the sound is important to the band, who were aware throughout the writing and recording of the project that it wasn’t to be a banjo album and that important decision is key to how this one plays out.
The real hero of the set is rhythm and groove, both huge strengths of each individual musician and the band. Opening song Dappled jumps in with a steady drum beat before banjo and upright join in and the rhythm is established for exactly half of the song until a deep piano chord shifts the piece into a more erratic shape that steadily increases in tempo before the trio drops back into the groove for the final minute. As an opener, it is a great choice, demonstrating the rhythm we all know they are capable of, plus some swerves and musical decisions to whet the appetite.
And if you’re after a slinky jazz-tinged song, check out Our Air, an absolute peach of a track with Casey’s bass providing the core, a super-sweet refrain you’ll be dying to learn. With a centre this solid, the other instruments have a bit of wiggle room to spread out within the melody, giving the tune a bit more looseness that some delicate flute playing emphasises. In a similar way to Jake Xerxes Fussell’s When I’m Called, which we looked at recently, Are Possible benefits from repeated listens to unearth its intricate melodic details, phrases, time signatures and rhythmic shifts. There are numerous examples of this throughout, but the final song, Aims, is quietly epic, blending acoustic drone sounds and hand drums with a wistful, meandering banjo line and spare bass notes. It is a beautifully spacious, subtly dramatic, delicately performed way to end an outstanding slow burner of an album.
Are Possible is out on Drag City Records on July 26th.
Pre-save/Order: https://lnk.to/arepossible
