When last we heard from ZD Grafters they had assumed trio form to produce some wild and squalling noise-skronk business. This weekend they’re taking that version of the band to Supernormal festival for some invigorating jazz in the park beatnik throw down. So it is with typical perversity this new release arrives just in time from the opposite end of the sonic spectrum. Chop Club On Road finds them back as a duo of keyboards and drums exploring a steady, hypnotic minimalism.
Hard Return is a label focussed on experimental releases exploring repetition, drones and minimalism. The stark simplicity of the standard black and white artwork maybe makes it appear more severe than it is. The label’s set parameters are actually very wide and allow for a great variety in its releases, pay what you feel on bandcamp and the money goes to the Trussell Trust. It would be difficult to argue that it’s not an essentially good thing. ZD Grafters response to this extends their loose improvisatory approach to something unexpected, even at times surprisingly pretty.
Compared with their previous releases Chop Club On Road is a calm and mellow set although I don’t think I’d go so far as to call it ambient. The minimalist impulse extends to Dave’s choice of kit. Working here with just a Yamaha Reface CP synth and its onboard effects he explores atomised chords as pulses of decaying delay with Zac’s skittering drums picking up on shifting rhythms and patterns as the repeating notes phase across each other. The synth tones are bright and clean, helping to give it a light, airy, feel and it unwinds as an organic flow rather than a machine process.
As a bonus the third track ‘Dark Trio’ recurs in extended live form from a recent performance. On the studio pieces Zac’s drums are softer than usual, more distant. Here his playing is more forceful but the recording as a whole is somehow calmer than the live experience where the improvisatory nature of their playing brings that in-the-moment sense of not knowing what’s coming next. What you lose in anticipatory edge you gain in a clearer sense of the coherence of the piece. Perhaps it’s simply that Three Little Birds was a blast of exhortation while Chop Club On Road is a more reflective meditation. Less grafting, more zoning out this time.
