Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder Ones

MANHATTAN MARATHON @ NUBLU CLASSIC

Friday, January 12, 2024

As Ben Ratliff wrote in the New York Times, “the aggressive and sublime first album by the band Elder Ones, Holy Science, is a kind of gauge for how strong and flexible the scene of young musicians in New York’s improvised and experimental music world can be.” Seth Colter Walls writes in Pitchfork, “This sound isn’t merely the product of well-chosen reference points; in its abstract way, it makes a unique argument for the virtue of cross-cultural curiosity. Appropriately, the nature of this music is constantly morphing. When a muted introduction gives way to a more celebratory aesthetic, the change is achieved gradually, through small changes in the arrangement. When a demonstration of rage reaches a peak that cannot be sustained, the musicians in Elder Ones are able to navigate back to a more stable feel, without losing the passion and awareness that has animated those foregoing blasts of harshness. The result is an astonishing debut for a composer, and her band.”

From Untruth (2019) built upon the bedrock foundation of Kidambi's previous compositional and conceptual work with Elder Ones, while forging uncharted territory. After a journey into wordless abstraction on Holy Science, Kidambi felt the urgency of the political moment required a direct and verbal call to action. The lyric fragments critique power structures of capitalism, racism, colonialism and fascism, distilling theory into visceral battle cries of protest. The instrumentation adds a layer of technology, with Kidambi on analog synthesizer and Max Jaffe's drumming talents extended to electronic Sensory Percussion. The frenzied improvising of Matt Nelson on soprano sax and gravity of Nick Dunston on bass, anchor the music in the tradition of free jazz, while it pushes into new futurist realms.

Elder Ones continues to conjure bold improvisations, pushing the boundaries of jazz and electronic forms. Percussion, soprano sax, synths, harmonium, bass, cello, and Kidambi’s astonishing vocals center these compositions on topics of anti-colonialism, the rise of global fascism, violence against Asian Americans, of continuing inequalities in the growing shadow of late stage capitalism. Not just a lament, but an explosive call to action, and ode to those struggling for racial and labor justice. Building on the incendiary spiritual and political free jazz compositions on their acclaimed albums Holy Science (2016) and From Untruth (2019) released on Northern Spy, the band’s third album will be released in Spring 2024 on We Jazz (EU).

Elder Ones features a wealth of talented NYC musicians with Jason Nazary on the drums, Alfredo Colon on tenor saxophone, Matt Nelson on soprano saxophone and Lester St. Louis on the bass, shared among some of the most innovative bands in creative music including Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl, William Parker’s Sutras Ensemble, Battle Trance, GRID, Metropolis Ensemble, Jaimie Branch’s Fly or Die, Anteloper, and more.