I haven’t heard the other two collaborations by pianist Vijay Iyer and vocalist/poet Mike Ladd, but this one makes me want to check them out. The previous ones, In What Language? and Commentator, dealt with social issues, as does this one, which is reflections from dreams of the post 9/11 soldiers. There is really nothing to compare this with except possibly the other two projects. The music is sort of a background or landscape provided by Iyer/p-key-prog, Ladd/synth, Liberty Ellman/g, Okkyung Lee/cello and Pamela Z/processing, Kassa Overall/dr. The libretto is spoken by Ladd, Maurice DeCaull (both who served in war campaigns), Lynn Hill, Guillermo E Brown and Pamela Z. The stories range from harrowing situations and scenes to simple parts of life, but the presentation is almost like an audio documentary, with the riveting stories more intriguing than any novel or prose. The music stands on its own as a soundtrack, as would the words in a short collection of writings, making this important on a plethora of planes. Fascinating.
Pi Recordings