BURNING GHOSTS
(Orenda)
9/10
Daniel Rosenboom has the sort of explosive imagination that triggers creative breakthroughs. Nothing is off limits, and he delights in making high art and anarchy kiss and tumble into bed together. The LA trumpeter has released two new albums simultaneously. The first, Book of Storms, the latest instalment in his occasional Book series, is a maelstrom of spectral abstractions and crunching rock. Burning Ghosts, the eponymous debut from a new band, is even fiercer, pressure-cooking an anger that could be the corollary of the Trump phenomenon.
Rosenboom’s trumpet is a laser-beam that pulverises any arbitrary lines between idioms, including that between thrash metal and jazz. On the more restrained Elegy the trumpet is muted, but the laser-beam is amplified in terms of emotional impact. The band is completed by electric guitarist Jake Vossler, acoustic bassist Richard Giddens and drummer Aaron McLendon, all players who can engage with the compositions’ demands, and then throw off the shackles to deliver fearless, monstrous performances when required. The constant dialogue between primality, beauty, instinct and intelligence sets this – and all Rosenboom’s projects – apart. Gripping.