Whether releasing accomplished avant-garde jazz albums with the Nels Cline Singers, or ripping through indie-rock songs with Wilco, Nels Cline's guitar work is always impressive. The guitarist's talents have recently earned him a spot on the legendary Blue Note Records, which released Lovers in 2016. Lovers was a 90 minute testament to Cline's range as a guitarist, boasting absurdly beautiful takes on jazz standards ("Glad To Be Unhappy") as well as tasteful rock covers ("Snare, Girl"). Cline's sophomore Blue Note release, The Nels Cline 4's Currents, Constellations, sounds absolutely nothing like Lovers. In the context of the Cline discography, the album could best be described as a somewhat natural progression from Room, a duet album with one of the most in demand guitarists in jazz today, Julian Lage.
The Nels Cline 4 is a band that finds its core strength in the impressive improvisational interplay between Lage and Cline, who are backed by a solid rhythm section in Tom Rainey (drums) and Scott Colley (bass). The album wastes no time, "Furtive", which Rainey begins with a great solo, starting things off at a blistering pace. The tune is a highlight of Currents, Constellations, a guitar clinic with Cline and Lage skillfully weaving in and out of each other over a rapid rhythm section. The guitarists seemingly instinctively switch between playing jagged lines, crash-like phrases and more smooth, lingering notes. The Monk-ish bop of "Imperfect 10", filled with infectious motifs and fantastic solos from both guitarists, is another song that shows The Nels Cline 4 in top form.
The Nels Cline 4 is an undeniably talented band, however, Currents, Constellations, does falter where the band wades into less energetic, less guitar-interplay centered territory. Notably, the contemplative "As Close As That" features one guitarist in a passive role, repeating a hypnotic theme as the other plays a languid lead melody. Although the song does have an interesting mysterious atmosphere, aided greatly by the fog of Rainey's brush work, it's hard not to ask for a bit more adventure considering the personnel. "River Mouth (Parts 1 & 2)" falls into similar shortcomings, the first half being more focused on atmosphere than on where the band has the most power - expansive improvisational lines.
The relatively conservative nature of a good number of tracks here may leave fans craving more scintillating improvisational exchanges between Lage and Cline. Tracks like "Amenette", which spends its first half switching between breakneck pace motifs from the guitars and spacious passages of improvisation, are far more captivating than the reserved nature of numbers like "For Each, A Flower". While Currents, Constellations is, overall, another quality project from Cline, this is a band that shines at its most energetic.
The relatively conservative nature of a good number of tracks here may leave fans craving more scintillating improvisational exchanges between Lage and Cline. Tracks like "Amenette", which spends its first half switching between breakneck pace motifs from the guitars and spacious passages of improvisation, are far more captivating than the reserved nature of numbers like "For Each, A Flower". While Currents, Constellations is, overall, another quality project from Cline, this is a band that shines at its most energetic.
