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Apocryphally, saxophonist John Coltrane realized at a certain point that his hour-long live solos could be cut down significantly, and if what he had to say and do over the course of an hour could be said in fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes was enough. It was a revelation for him.
Multi-instrumentalist William Parker once said to me in conversation “why is complexity considered a musical value? Who cares if the music is complicated? Music is like food, and you’ve got to eat!”
The music of New York trio Weak Signal (Mike Bones, guitar and voice; Sasha Vine, electric bass, violin, and voice; Tran, drums and voice) is a masterclass in simplicity and economy but these aspects aren’t present for their own didactic sake. Rather, their art is world-building in the most essential of ways, subtly spinning out in an enveloping, rich haze from a clear, architectural core. There are sections of knife-like collective squall and dialogic drift that glance at improvised music; while not strictly pop, the tunes are incredibly catchy with wry, keenly memorable lyrics that easily stick in one’s craw. With associations including Endless Boogie, Sian Alice Group, and Soldiers of Fortune, Weak Signal formed in 2017. They waxed two full lengths in the period leading up to the pandemic ('LP1'; 'Bianca'), and during that unsettling year- plus without many gigs to speak of, the trio kept busy and unleashed a handful of choice digital EPs and a couple of split 7” singles (cue up “Rolex” if you haven’t heard it). In 2023 the group released 'War and War', a self-published book/CD (its title taken from a volume by Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai) that was reissued on LP by 12XU the following year. 'Fine' is their fourth full-length to date, its tight ten-song program fleshed out with sonic icing from keyboardist Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip) and guitarists Doug Shaw (Gang Gang Dance; White Magic) and Cass McCombs.
'Fine' is an unhurried jewel in the trio’s discography, partly the result of the time it took to write. Vine relates that “we cut the album in half, made it pretty concise, and part of that process was us figuring out what we wanted to sound like and what wasn’t working. Fine is how I envisaged it sounding. It was fun to take time and sit with the songs, whereas the first few records were written and recorded really fast.” Even if the vibe and structure is familiar – and one can easily pick out their stripped-down jangle, like the lovechild of the Rain Parade and Lungfish – there’s a clear evolution over the course of their records, each one more finely-tuned and comfortable. Vine adds that working these tunes out together in front of people is part of the journey: “I love playing the songs as much as possible live and that’s something that I’ve learned over time. With the first couple of albums, as we were playing them later I was coming up with different harmonies and ideas. It’s nice to be in the music for a while and figure out what it needs.” Fine was recorded by Jon Erickson and mixed by Rupert Clervaux (Sian Alice Group), whose expertise has been called in for records by Spiritualized and pianist Matthew Shipp, among others, keeping just enough of the SoundCloud lo-fi aesthetic to ensure it’s a proper Weak Signal record.
The lyrics on 'Fine' are mature and full of depth, though unadorned. Bones wrote the words and initial melodies, and the tunes were hashed out collectively in a continual back and forth. Themes of spirituality and religion, drugs, petty crime, love, and inner peace are woven throughout; one can peel back the layers of the onion if one wants to, but it’s not required as the delivery is so straightforward. There’s the gorgeous ode to ascetic universalism “Wannabe,” the transcendental hedonist subject of “Rich Junkie,” and the delicate timelessness of “Terá Terá.” In response to my calling him a “trap music-inspired Rumi,” Bones relates that “the mystics from whatever strain, they all look for whatever they’re looking for in the dirt and it’s nothing really new. “Disappearing” has that line ‘alone with the alone’ and that’s from an Ibn Arabi poem. If you read it in Arabic it’s holographic, and each character has a numerological aspect as well. But it all just comes out.” Then again, the aforementioned “Rich Junkie” takes its title from a line in a song by Atlanta rapper Future, spinning a passing reference into new worlds. Tran succinctly adds that “if you are sincere enough people get it and you don’t have to spell it out for them” and that is part of the engine that makes Weak Signal chug (and what now feels artistically rarefied): sincerity and honesty, warmth, a dash of smart humor, and craggy, soot- covered hooks for days. There’s no such thing as perfection but 'Fine' is sure to be a lasting and essential presence in the knapsack of underground rock and roll.
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Clifford Allen
May 2024