Let’s reasonably assume that collaborations between established musicians might sometimes feel like walking on eggshells, even more so when the musicians are strangers, who brave the risk that one among them might actually insist on, say, using the sounds of those eggshells in the ultimate recording. Thankfully, neither Rhys Chatham nor the Brooklyn-based band Oneida are interested in such trivialities, so their new collaborative album Whats Your Sign?, out November 11 on Northern Spy, was reportedly completed with a pleasant and unsurprising fluidity.
But that’s despite some very minor worries prior to the recording. Chatham was initially concerned that Oneida’s penchant for “essentially rock” music might interfere with his own chronically experimental tendencies, but what musically terraformed instead was seemingly a creative complement based in part around free improv and repetition. Let’s not act like Oneida didn’t have an endearing habit of noisily saying things over and over again on albums like Rated O, for instance. And Chatham has revealed rock inklings in the past, before getting tired and going on a crazy and/or minimalist musical excursion. It all worked out to an expectedly synergistic result.
Pre-order the new one (recorded and mixed by Colin Marston and mastered by James Plotkin) here, and listen to its opening track below.
What’s Your Sign? tracklisting:
01. You Get Brighter
02. Bad Brains
03. Well Tuned Guitar (Oneida version)
04. The Mabinogian (Oneida version)
05. A. Philip Randlop at Back Bay Station
06. Civil Weather
More about: Oneida, Rhys Chatham
