Once every few years an album comes along that is so different that it makes you take special notice, even if you spend most of your listening time immersed in music that is “different.” Sun & Rain is the quartet of Travis Laplante (Battle Trance, Little Women) on sax, Nathaniel Morgan (Anna Webber’s and Carlo Costa’s ensembles) on sax, Andrew Smiley (Chris Pitsiokos’ and Will Mason’s ensembles) on guitar, and Jason Nazary (Darius Jones’ and Noah Kaplan’s ensembles) on drums.
Waterfall was a long time in the making, with composition only occurring when all four members were physically together. The project began in 2014, was recorded in 2022, and culminated with this 2025 release. As described in the liner notes, the effort was excruciating at times: “Full days were spent obsessively working on two minutes of music which were then trashed the next day and never used. It was an extraordinarily patient and slow-moving compositional process.”
Each of the enumerated tracks centers around a musical approach and an associated set of contrapuntal themes. These include warbling sax lines, jangling guitar, and intricate percussion. While there appears to be room for improvisation, the group maintains a controlled and planned aesthetic. This means that there is a remote “art rock” feel to the album, in that is comes across as deliberately structured.
A high point is the 16-minute Waterfall III, which includes distinct passages of layered rolling and fluttering sax, then dual sax wailing, and then speed-strummed guitar themes. All of this is accompanied by assertive and complex rhythmic lines driven by Nazary and Smiley. The sounds are outside and discordant, hovering on the edge of tonality. And just when you think you have your head around what they are doing, the group adds another line or two to the mix.
Waterfall is one of those albums that just sticks with you. Comparisons are hard to make, as the group draws from classical, chamber rock, post rock, and creative jazz. The novelty keep on coming throughout its 43 minutes. Needless to say, this is an early album of the year candidate and is very, very well done.
Bravo, and my highest recommendation.
