Smart Matter

There are moments where one could swear more than three musicians are playing thanks in large part to the textured fretwork of Ryan Butler. Butler synthesizes some of the major cross-currents in contemporary guitar – there are hints of Frisell, Greenwood and Rosenwinkel on 'Separation Anxiety" – without ever losing sight of his own musicality....On 'Inner Space,' Butler's sympathetic ears drive Jonathan Lindhorst to find a lyrical intensity not often heard on the tenor saxophone...every note Lindhorst plays sounds thoughtful and well considered.

…Turtleboy shares the same formulation as Motian’s combo, but the sound coming from them is quite different, even though they caught Motian’s adventurous spirit. The younger guys combine alt-rock with progressive jazz, but the absence of bass makes the music airier than it would otherwise be by combining these two music forms. Their alt-rock fealty is confirmed with a Radiohead cover (‘Pyramid Song’), but there’s improvisational mojo going on all over, and more often it’s going on a group level than an individual one. Miller’s wordless vocals on some cuts like ‘Smart Matter’ and ‘Vampyroteuthus Infernalis’ amplify the melodies well…Combining the directness and resonance of indie rock with the sophistication and unpredictability of avant garde jazz, Turtleboy’s Smart Matter transcribes the ideas of Motian for a younger generation.

Canadian trio Turtleboy is definitely melodically inclined but also quite trippy and their sax/guitar/drums lineup creates an airy feel that is used to best advantage on Smart Matter’s longer excursions. Tenor saxophonist Jonathan Lindhorst is the jazz maven of the group while electric guitarist Ryan Butler adeptly straddles a heady jazz/rock intersection, not through searing blues-based guitar licks but more with delicate arpeggios and grindingly hypnotic chordal palettes. While the lineup draws inspiration from other like-constructed jazz trios, Turtleboy owes as much to ‘90s grunge and Pink Floyd as it does to drummer Paul Motian’s trio. Like Motian, however, drummer Adam Miller is an equal partner and as much a jazz/rock denizen as Butler while being beautifully textural…Lindhorst is an expressively vocal tenor player whether he is stating a catchy melody, wailing a line over which Butler can solo or blowing full bore in tandem with guitar. He also blends remarkably well with some overt vocalizing by the other bandmembers…For this sophomore offering, Turtleboy do stick their necks out a bit more to reveal a well-developed group dynamic and a heady compositional sophistication.