AMN Reviews: Anna Webber – Shimmer Wince (2023; INTAKT Records)

Anna Webber doesn’t play jazz and doesn’t play classical. Her music is a strange and wonderful amalgam of styles with a healthy dose of experimentalism. Shimmer Wince is her latest album, to be released on October 20 by INTAKT Records.

On this effort, she is joined by Adam O’Farrill on trumpet, Mariel Roberts on cello, Elias Stemeseder on synthesizers, and Lesley Mok on drums. Webber plays sax and flutes as usual, and is responsible for all compositions.

Shimmer Wince is a strange animal, deviating even from Webber’s expansive oeuvre. The group incorporates microtones, drones, spectralism, counterpoint, as well as extended techniques. Having said that, the music does not scream “weird” – instead, it comes across as highly sophisticated yet listenable chamber jazz. I’ve made comparisons in the past between Webber and Anthony Braxton and I will maintain those. While stylistically different I hear similarities in their respective explorative approaches.

Case in point, Swell begins the album with a multi-instrument drone that builds intensity as Mok adds cymbals, disjointed beats, and rattles. This evolves into a 2-note horn pattern that is joined by complementary lines from Roberts’ cello. Eventually, the first of many contrapuntal passages takes place between Webber, O’Farrill, and Roberts. Throughout there is both a playfulness and a gritty intensity.

On Fizz, Stemeseder leads with a subtle theme that is joined by the rest of the group though each expresses it in a slightly different fashion. Mok’s snare work then centers the piece on a jazzy march followed by lilting motifs.

Periodicity 1 and Periodicity 2 are overtly outside. The former includes glissando cello, staccato horns, effects-laden synth, and a more open-ended structure. Webber directs this disjointedness into a set of oddly overlapping melodies before contributing a sax solo. The latter offers up another two-note theme that is interrupted by bursts of energy, with these bursts becoming the main focal point along with a series of evolving four-note patterns.

Webber is one of a handful of modern composer / performers who produces music with both great intellect and feel. Her music is serious yet evokes joy. And she puts on a great live show.

Shimmer Wince makes for a solid album-of-the-year candidate. Very, very well done.