Mrs. Fun<\/a> does is a kind of avant garde melange that folds in jazz, punk, no wave, dub and much else. The duo sounds like a three-, four- or even five-piece group, so complex is their sonic stew. There\u2019s a free jazz character to their original material, bu it\u2019s delivered with a structure that free jazz (deliberately) lacks.<\/p>\nAnd Mrs. Fun doesn\u2019t meander. \u201cAsteroid 1994\u201d suggests what Sun Ra might have sounded like had it just been him (with Grauer\u2019s musical gear) and an ace drummer. But then \u201cPandemic\u201d starts out with a cheery, whimsical character before veering into a cross between surf \u2018n\u2019 spy, Eno\/Byrne and some of the more outr\u00e9 keyboard stylings of Chick Corea. And the curve balls keep flying: \u201cMemory Hoops\u201d feels like a classic jazz record with the turntable set on 16 r.p.m. \u201cZoila the Magnificent\u201d is some delightfully accessible musical dialogue (Dave Brubeck style) in a between keys \u2013 sounding like Rhodes, then subsonic Moog, then both \u2013 and Zick\u2019s expressive drum work.<\/p>\n
Listening to Grauer\u2019s nimble and inventive keys, or luxuriating in Zick\u2019s command of percussion are both rewarding experiences. Taking them together is truly special. \u201cThe Haunting\u201d sounds like its title, sinister and atmospheric and just right for a soundtrack. \u201cThe Jury\u201d lightens the mood, striking a deft balance between abstract and melodic as it unfolds over nearly eight minutes. \u201cIndispensable Feeling\u201d gives the listener the sonic experience of being right there with Mrs. Fun. Grauer\u2019s melancholy vocals fit her lyrics perfectly. \u201cThe Summit\u201d takes time to develop; when it does, it shows that in an album full of intriguing composition delivered with wit and style, Mrs. Fun has save the best for last.<\/p>\n
Challenging to be sure, The Summit<\/i> will reward adventurous listeners on the hunt for something different but still tethered (deliberately and in the best possible way) to melody.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Outside of the classical realm \u2013 which is a different bag altogether \u2013 when most people think of live music, they picture either a band or a solo artist. Duos […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29522,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,42,49,65],"tags":[4250],"class_list":["post-29521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avant-garde","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-review","tag-mrs-fun","cat-7-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29521"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29524,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29521\/revisions\/29524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Outside of the classical realm \u2013 which is a different bag altogether \u2013 when most people think of live music, they picture either a band or a solo artist. Duos are comparatively rare unless it\u2019s an acoustic-guitar thing or something similar. So their musical configuration alone sets Mrs. Fun apart from most. But that\u2019s merely the beginning. Connie Grauer primarily plays keyboards, but adds in keyboard bass (a la Ray Manzarek) and guitar. Kim Zick lays down the beat, though phrasing it in that manner does her an injustice.<\/p>\n