Reactor One is a diverse album of highly original contemplative experimental music by an ensemble of internationally acclaimed improvising musicians, led by guitarist Alex Roth. Following MultiTraction Orchestra‘s highly celebrated debut single ’emerge entangled’ (2020), Reactor One is the ensemble’s debut album due for release via the contemporary music label, Superpang. Out on Friday 7th April via digital retail and streaming services.
MultiTraction Orchestra is a networked ensemble with a fluid line-up of experimental musicians brought together by composer, guitarist and producer Alex Roth, and featuring members of GoGo Penguin, Supersilent, Melt Yourself Down, Crash Ensemble, Sly & The Family Drone, and Hen Ogledd. In 2020, with lockdown in full effect, MultiTraction Orchestra released a ten-minute piece, ’emerge entangled’. It was constructed by Alex Roth, with 27 musicians from 15 cities in eight different countries contributing parts recorded remotely, yet with an impressive unanimity of purpose.
The piece traversed a wide range of genres and received much acclaim from the press and radio, including from DJ Gilles Peterson and Jazzwise. Perhaps it was the fierce sense of communion the ensemble generated in those estranged times, perhaps the mockery the players made of the physical distance between them, powerfully shown in the split screen YouTube video of the piece, that moved audiences the world over. We can be together, emerge entangled, despite all. Whatever it was, the Orchestra’s debut single was a creative success.
Two years in the making, now comes their debut album, Reactor One, which brings together seven musicians of towering reputations. Once again, all the musicians’ parts were recorded remotely, prompted by Roth’s initial guitar pieces, as he explains: “The recording process was very similar to that of ‘emerge entangled’. I uploaded guitar pieces and asked the musicians to record responses, which could be totally improvised, completely worked-out, or anything in between. Given that they couldn’t hear each other’s responses, I composed my initial pieces to function as the ‘glue’ that would hold everything together, whether or not they made it into the final mixes. This meant the initial pieces needed to be loose enough (harmonically and rhythmically) to allow for varied responses, yet specific enough in atmosphere to provide frameworks for each piece. Once I’d received all the responses, the lengthy production process began in earnest. First, I went through all the takes, listening out for ones that felt like they belonged together, and parts that could serve as either textural or melodic starting points for arrangements. I tried to let the material guide the process, rather than coming at it with a fixed idea. The exceptions to this methodology were James Allsopp’s (saxophone and bass clarinet) and Arve Henriksen’s (trumpet) parts, which were recorded once I already had loose arrangements for the respective tracks, and a fairly clear idea of what I wanted them to add. As with ‘emerge entangled’, the album title borrows from particle physics. Where the earlier single nodded to what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance”, Reactor One suggests an imaginary site where energy is produced through a process of experimentation and fusion under extreme conditions. What better metaphor for an album forged during a global pandemic, with an energy crisis unfolding and intensifying climate change underpinning it all?”
The result is an album diverse in its range of soundworlds: from plangent trumpet melodies and ambient string textures to post-jazz electronica, extended instrumental techniques and expansive post-rock experimentalism with processed percussion and beats. Reactor One displays a deep, implicit mutual understanding and high regard among the musicians involved, and, despite its frequent ascents into turbulent realms, retains at its heart a profound tonality and warmth. The voyage begins with ‘Reactor One, Part I’ benignly dominated by the solemn, lonely heights of Arve Henriksen’s trumpet, instantly recognisable to fans of the Norwegian ensemble Supersilent. Henriksen’s style is intimate yet glacial, each phrase like the condensation formed by breathing in cold air. He’s joined by Dubliner Kate Ellis’ rapidly arpeggiating cello, multi-layered with glistening harmonics, a contrast of pace with James Allsopp (Sly And The Family Drone, among others) adding discreet accompaniment on bass clarinet.
‘Reactor One, Part II’ is a different animal altogether, wholly distinct in texture and timbre – an intricate tangle of percussion from drummer Jon Scott (GoGo Penguin), swirling synths and fragmentary guitar, from which layered tenor saxes rise, increasingly squally and fractious as the ensemble intensify their efforts. Ruth Goller (Skylla, Melt Yourself Down) carves deep, telling shapes on electric bass as the percussion mounts, before a slow subsidence.
‘Reactor One, Part III’ features a scurry of electric harp from Rhodri Davies (Hen Ogledd) which triggers a low-end response from Goller as she plots a path of sustained and emphatic fretboard drones, undercut by Ellis’s celestial sawing cello. There’s an infinite variety of shape and style at the disposal of the MultiTraction Orchestra but also a sense of geographic space, of seascapes and changing climes.
So it is with ‘Reactor One, Part IV’, as Henriksen again joins the conversation, with his unmistakable phrasing, full of melancholy and evocative of the remote regions of his native landscape, before the percussion enters the fold and another hailstorm brews. Depths, and heights.
‘Reactor One, Part V’ reminds a little of John Coltrane’s Ascension in its sheer, wailing verticality, to scrape the cirrus clouds, as – led by Allsopp’s bass clarinet – the Orchestra achieves a sort of collective levitation.
Finally, ‘Reactor One, Part VI’. Once again, as across the album, there’s a great sense of topography, of fjords and forests, oceans and deserts, across which Ellis’s murmuration of cello parts glide and dart over the ebb and flow of synths and time-stretched guitars. For all its shapeshifting, from near-silence to abrasion, from post-jazz to immersive ambient textures, its globe-trotting, its occasional excursions into extreme realms, Reactor One is never heavy weather. It retains the flow, the glow and contours of great beauty throughout. It takes you on a journey across land, sea and air that you’ll want to take time and again. And time and again listening to these pieces, you marvel that these players aren’t jam packed in a small room together, that they can retain such a sense of intimacy and supportiveness. That’s a tribute to Alex Roth’s imagination and creative production approach, and to the vast, collective experience and versatility of the Orchestra. All of us can relate to the deeper implication of Reactor One – that remoteness need be no impediment, so long as the human spirit is willing.
*** Biographies ***
MultiTraction Orchestra
MultiTraction Orchestra is a networked ensemble with a fluid line-up of experimental musicians brought together by composer, guitarist and producer Alex Roth. The Orchestra’s debut single ’emerge entangled’ was constructed by Roth from improvisations recorded under lockdown by 27 musicians from 15 cities in 8 different countries. Released to critical acclaim in 2020, the track received airplay on radio stations across the world including BBC Radio 3 and Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM show. Jazzwise called it “powerful, immersive and intense”, while AJ Dehany described it as “a mind-expanding epic with diverse textures invoking experimental jazz, electronica and black metal.”
Alex Roth
Composer, guitarist and producer Alex Roth is, according to musicOMH, “one of contemporary music’s most innovative and impressive talents.” His diverse body of work encompasses improvised performance; dance, theatre and film scores; and collaborations with some of Europe’s leading experimental musicians, such as Arve Henriksen, Savina Yannatou, Mikolaj Trzaska, John Butcher, Kit Downes and Olga Szwajgier. As Supersigil, Alex releases experimental electronic music and audiovisual NFTs, and is working towards dropping an album as a virtual world. Among Alex’s many other projects are electro-acoustic ensemble Sefiroth, which radically explores traditional Sephardic repertoire; MultiTraction Orchestra, a networked ensemble of experimental musicians; and an improvising trio with clarinettist Waclaw Zimpel and percussionist Hubert Zemler whose debut album is coming out in 2023. Alex’s music has been recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and London Sinfonietta, and his discography also includes collaborations with singer/songwriter Alice Zawadzki and Mercury Prize nominee Laura Jurd, among other releases on labels such as NMC, Edition, Whirlwind, Diatribe and Superpang. In 2022, Alex founded Zyla, a multidisciplinary (meta)label for experimental arts. Its inaugural release was Inpouring, Alex’s original score for a dance performance by choreographer Kasia Witek, performed by cellist/vocalist Alice Purton, which Avant Music News called “prime-grade modern creative music”. A graduate of Dartington College of Arts and the Royal Academy of Music, Alex divides his time between London and Kraków.
Arve Henriksen
Born in 1968, Arve Henriksen studied at the Trondheim Conservatory from 1987-1991, and has worked as a freelance musician since 1989. He has worked with many world renowned musicians, including Jon Balke Magnetic North Orchestra/ Batagraf, Edward Vesala, Jon Christensen, Marilyn Mazur, Nils Petter Molvær, Misha Alperin, Arkady Shilkloper, Arild Andersen, Stian Carstensen, Dhafer Youssef, Sidsel Endresen, Pekka Kuusisto, Christian Wallumrød Ensemble, Nils Økland, Karl Seglem, Per Oddvar Johansen, Iain Ballamy, Thomas Strønen, Gjermund Larsen, Svante Henryson, Mats Eilertsen, David Sylvian, Jon Hassell, Hope Sanduval, Laurie Anderson, John Paul Jones, Erik Honoré, Toshimaru Nakamura, Trygve Seim Ensemble, Jan Gunnar Hoff, Tord Gustavsen, Giovanni Di Domenico, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Gavin Bryars, John Potter, Johanna McGregor, Imogen Heap, Guy Sigsworth, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bill Frisell, Terje Rypdal, Maria Schneider, Kate Havnevik, Live Marie Roggen, Silje Nergaard, Odd Nordstoga, Kari Bremnes, Sondre Bratland, Jannis Anastasakis, Lars Danielsson, The Source, Vox
Clamantis and many more. He has played in many different contexts, bands and projects, ranging from working with koto player Satsuki Odamura to the rock band Motorpsycho via numerous free improvising groups with Ernst Reisiger, StenSandell, Peter Friis-Nilsen, Lotte Anker, Hasse Poulsen, Terje Isungset, Benoit Delbecq, Steve Arguelles, Lars Juul and Marc Ducret. He has collaborated with the composers Peter Tornquist, Helge Sunde, Terje Bjørklund and Tõnu Kõrvits in cooperation with orchestras and chamber settings like Cikada String Quartet, Nidaros String Quartet, Zapp 4, The Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Kristiansand and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Britten Sinfonia, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, The Norwegian Wind Ensemble and Trondheim Soloists. Arve is currently connected to and in collaboration with: Supersilent, Trio Mediaeval´s Rimur, Sinikka Langeland´s Starflowers and Magical Forest, Saumur, Warped Dreamer, Atmosphéres,Fennesz-Henriksen and various percussive settings including Audun Kleive, Helge Norbakken and Ingar Zach.
Rhodri Davies
Rhodri Davies was born in 1971 and lives in Swansea, South Wales. He plays harp, electric harp, live electronics and builds wind, water, ice, dry ice and fire harp installations. He has released four solo albums: Trem, Over Shadows, Wound Response and An Air Swept Clean of All Distance. His regular groups include: HEN OGLEDD, Cranc, a duo with John Butcher, The Sealed Knot, Common Objects and a trio with John Tilbury and Michael Duch. He has worked with the following artists: David Sylvian, Jenny Hval, Derek Bailey, Mark Fell, Kahimi Karie, Laura Cannell, Lina Lapelyte, Sachiko M, Bill Orcutt, Jim O’Rourke, Christian Marclay and David Toop. In 2008 he collaborated with the visual artist Gustav Metzger on Self-cancellation, a large-scale audio-visual collaboration in London and Glasgow. New pieces for solo harp have been composed for him by: Eliane Radigue, Philip Corner, Phill Niblock, Ben Patterson, Christian Wolff, Alison Knowles, Mieko Shiomi and Yasunao Tone. In 2012 he was the recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Grants to Artists Award, since 2016 he is a Chapter Associate Artist and in 2017 he received a Creative Wales Award.
James Allsopp
Saxophonist composer and performer, James Allsopp undertook a BMus in Jazz performance with second study classical clarinet at the Royal Academy of Music, London. After completing his studies, he started his own bands and received the BBC Jazz Award for innovation and a Ronnie Scott Jazz Award for his debut album Fraud in 2008. As well as working with his own projects he has been heard as a sideman for Dr John, The Last Poets, Django Bates, Polar Bear and Jamie Cullum amongst others. As well as performing James also teaches both saxophone and clarinet at the Royal Academy of Music and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Kate Ellis
Cellist Kate Ellis is a versatile musician dedicated to the performance and exploration of all new music. With an interest in the use of electronics, Kate has commissioned and premiered works by numerous Irish and International composers and has toured and broadcast in Australia, the USA, Europe and China. Kate has performed with Bobby McFerrin, Iarla O Lionaird, Gavin Friday and Karan Casey and plays regularly with Tarab, Yurodny and the Ergodos Musicians. Kate is artistic director of Crash Ensemble, Ireland’s leading new music group, with whom she has been Cellist since 2002. As a member of Crash, Kate has collaborated with Steve Reich, Gavin Bryars, Terry Riley, Dawn Upshaw, Iarla O Lionaird and Gavin Friday, and has premiered works by Terry Riley, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Nico Muhly, Valgeir Sigursson and Donnacha Dennehy. She has performed at the Canberra International Music Festival, Bang on a Can Marathon (NYC), Electric Picnic, with residencies at the 2012 Huddersfield International Contemporary Music Festival and Princeton University and performances at the Barbican Centre, Kings Place, Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Centre. Future projects include performances of newly commissioned works from Donnacha Dennehy and Double Bass player Barry Guy, performances with Gavin Bryars, solo shows with visual artist Rory Tangney and a collaboration with Jazz Musician Francesco Turrisi and singer Savina Yannatou.
Ruth Goller
Hailed by the Guardian for her “thunderous bass-guitar hooks”, Ruth Goller is a bassist, vocalist, composer, environmentalist and now solo artist. Goller helped lay the foundation for the UK’s jazz renaissance, from her years on stage with Acoustic Ladyland and Melt Yourself Down, to more recently Let Spin and Vula Viel, whilst performing and recording with the likes of Shabaka Hutchings, Mercury-Award nominee Kit Downes, Sam Amidon, Bojan Z, Marc Ribot, RokiaTraoré, and Paul McCartney. Since 2021, Ruth has lead her solo project ‘Skylla’. Featuring Goller on bass guitar and vocals, as well as featuring outstanding UK vocalists Lauren Kinsella and Alice Grant, Skylla has received much critical acclaim for their eponymously titled debut album and spell-binding live performances.
Jon Scott
Jon Scott has spent the last ten years cementing his reputation as one of the most creative and flexible drummers on the UK and European jazz scene. With a broad range of stylistic influences and a restless desire to push into new musical territories, he is in constant demand as both an empathetic sideman andcreative collaborator, in live and studio settings. Jon currently tours the world with Mercury-nominated GoGo Penguin and Ethio-Jazz legend Mulatu Astatke. He performed with Shabaka Hutchings’ renowned Sons of Kemet, co-leads the group Dice Factory with
Tom Challenger and Tom Farmer, and is currently working with long-time musical colleague Michael Chillingworth on his new project. He works regularly with the progressively-minded pianists Ivo Neame and Alexander Hawkins, as well as elder statesmen of UK jazz such as Henry Lowther, Pete Hurt and Jim Mullen, and legendary LA-based singer Dwight Trible. Jon spent ten years as the drummer for MOBO Award-winning Kairos 4Tet, and has been a member of London-based groups led by Jasper Høiby, George Crowley, Hannes Riepler, Rory Simmons, Alice Zawadzki and more. He has featured on over 40 recordings.
Credits
Arve Henriksen – trumpet, piccolo trumpet
James Allsopp – bass clarinet, tenor saxophone
Rhodri Davies – electric harp
Kate Ellis – cello
Ruth Goller – electric bass
Jon Scott – drums
Alex Roth – electric guitar, synths
All tracks were composed collaboratively and recorded remotely between February and September 2021
James Allsopp was recorded by Alex Bonney
All tracks were produced, edited and mixed by Alex Roth, except Part II mixed by Dan Jeffries and Alex Roth
Mastered by Goetz-Michael Rieth at eastside mastering studios berlin, May–June 2022
Cover art is a still from Hedron #240 by ANiMAtttiC, available at superrare.com
© & ℗ 2023 Alex Roth under licence to Superpang
Superpang
Rome native Christian di Vito’s slowly coalescing plans to launch a label were accelerated by the onset of the pandemic in 2020, when he realised that global lockdowns seriously threatened the livelihoods of all sorts of musicians. Launched that June as a digital platform,
Superpang quickly gained momentum with a steady stream of releases from across the experimental music spectrum, making no effort to differentiate between DIY noisemakers, contemporary classical ensembles, free jazz blowers, and post-techno explorers.
https://superpang.org
https://superpang.bandcamp.com