The line straddling accessibility and innovation is hard to draw, perhaps no place more so than in art. Artists risk either alienating their audience or insulting their intelligence, with little breathing room between the two extremes. And while combining frantic jazz piano, wizardly electronics, and effervescent drumming in an avant-garde mixture might sound too esoteric to be enjoyable, on his new album Plunge, NY-based artist Zack Clarke somehow makes this concoction intriguingly approachable, not to mention wildly enjoyable.
At over 45 minutes and spanning 16 tracks, Plunge is a comprehensive work that explores the depths of human imagination and emotional capacity through forward-thinking compositions and playful styles. Clarke's adventures in surprisingly danceable but chin-stroking music are rooted in academia. He attended The New England Conservatory in Boston, majoring in Jazz Performance, and his learned approach means he knows the rules and how to play in and around them. "Alternativefacts" opens the collection with splutterings of notes and tones, as though fed through a particularly distressed HAL 9000, while Clarke's drumming ties everything together with a sailor’s knot tightness. The multi-instrumentalist is behind all instrumentation on the album, an impressive feat considering the range and persistent performance quality.
At first inspection, tracks like "Spectrum" and "Grahmcrackers" appear to be trying to create as much complication as possible. Clarke gives little time for his audience to rest and adjust to his frantic composition style. He seems wholly motivated to test the boundaries of the effectiveness of metronomic harmony. Yet amidst the restless kinetic propulsions, patient ears can find pockets of oxygen in the softer moments when Clarke changes gear but stays at the same speed. Meanwhile, The anxiety-infused piano lines of "Mighty" are given heft with pummeling drums and topped off with 8-bit garnishing. "BossHause" drives home this merging of modern jazz composition and experimental electronic production, with acid drum beats and ghostly keys playing over piano lines void of commas or full stops.
Perhaps the album highlight is "Fragment", a laser-sharp cut which includes the album's characteristic dynamic unpredictability but folds in swathes of muted rock guitar strikes, cathartically rested synths, and techno breaks.
'Non-stop' is a word that could accurately describe Plunge. Clarke fills every second with a tense energy that never finds release. "LOONS" and "INSPOMID" carry on the playfully electronic stew, reminiscent of a video game soundtrack—though an obscure video game you might find at a garage sale, and when you go to play it, you find out it was produced by Aphex Twin and haunted by the ghost of Ornette Coleman. Meanwhile, the ruminating "SYCLE" plays more on a rhythmically rocking structure, and "Anthem" closes the album with a fantastical air, perhaps the most optimistic foray, creating a bright, if not perennially whimsical, feeling.
Plunge by Zack Clarke is a complex and substantial work that might be too rich in mood for fans of easily digestible instrumental music. However, for those with a penchant for perception-shattering and boundary-pushing free jazz untethered by social expectations, there is a subsuming quality to proceedings. If you allow it to work its magic, you will get delightfully lost in the depths of your psyche.
★★★★