Gordon Grdina - Pendulum (2021)

Tracklist:

01. Gordon Grdina - Koen Dori
02. Gordon Grdina - Contra
03. Gordon Grdina - The Chase
04. Gordon Grdina - Benbow Blues
05. Gordon Grdina - Wayward
06. Gordon Grdina - Pendulum
07. Gordon Grdina - Always Been the Song II

[quote]Gordon Grdina has always been a seeker intent on transforming his experiences into new approaches to sound. His innate curiosity has led him to explore an ever-expanding range of styles and contexts with a growing number of collaborators. Surprisingly, despite a discography that will include almost two dozen recordings by year’s end, Grdina has only recently devoted his energy to solo recordings. In 2018 he dropped his first such outing, China Cloud, while still employing the sort of electronics and effects that have marked so many of his dynamic band recordings, but on the 2020 album Prior Street he unplugged completely, burrowing deeper into his solo practice. Pendulum offers further progression, not only building on its predecessors, but also emerging as an important new capstone atop his growing oeuvre. Once again he complements his guitar playing with highly original excursions on the oud, further revealing how Grdina has steadily allowed his method on each instrument to infect the other.

Back during his school days he assiduously organized solo gigs in Vancouver restaurants to develop his practice, particularly focusing on harmony and internalizing standard repertoire. Yet his love for improvisation propelled him to concentrate on collaborative situations, whether forging the ravishing chamber-like post-bop of his 2006 debut album Think Like the Waves with Gary Peacock and Paul Motian... [/qoute]