Tim Berne’s Snakeoil – You’ve Been Watching Me (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Tim Berne’s third ECM album, You’ve Been Watching Me, sees the saxophonist-composer again leading his dynamic New York band Snakeoil, but now a quintet with the arrival of guitarist Ryan Ferreira, whose sound adds textural allure. The group’s 2013 release, Shadow Man, garnered Berne some of the highest praise of his career as a composer and bandleader. DownBeat said: “This music rocks and thinks, explores, deconstructs, and swings, in its own identifiably angular, Berne-ian way.” If Berne has hit a new peak with his writing on You’ve Been Watching Me, his band has reached a heightened state of collective interaction. Snakeoil can still be bracingly kinetic. But there is new space in these compositions and more lyrical focus to the improvisations, leading to a dramatic, even cinematic experience in such tracks as ‘Embraceable Me’. Berne’s music has never been richer or more arresting.

In the course of his long and prolific career, alto saxophonist/composer Tim Berne has been more of a musical agitator than a mediator. While that’s a positive characteristic of Berne’s creative process, it is also a demanding one for all concerned. Berne’s tenure with ECM, however, has been marked by a more pronounced move toward balancing restorative musical properties to juxtapose very complex structures. The result of Berne’s continued growth is You’ve Been Watching Me, a high point of his compositional achievements to date.
As on his two previous ECM leader dates with Snakeoil—the self-titled debut (2012) and Shadow Man (2013)—Berne’s cohort includes Oscar Noriega on clarinets, Matt Mitchell on piano and Ches Smith on various and sundry percussion. An addition to the original quartet is guitarist Ryan Ferreira. The Eastman School of Music graduate adds an ethereal, liquid quality that belies his early heavy-metal influences.
“Lost In Redding” opens with all hands on deck, creating a carnival-like atmosphere before abruptly switching gears and turning the proceedings over to Noriega. His bass clarinet solo alternates between single tones and more musical structures, eventually giving way to a series of solos from the rest of the group. Mitchell’s keys are augmented by Smith’s light but decisive propulsion providing the transition to the reeds retaking the piece, slowly building back to the calamitous level of the opening. “Small World In A Small Town” may be most ambitious composition Berne has created. Beginning as a duet between Berne and Mitchell, the slow pace allows the articulation to stand out clearly. Taking on suite-like qualities, Noriega (at almost ten-minutes in) adds lyrical, classically influenced themes then almost imperceptibly shifts to a subtle Middle-Eastern melody accompanied by a rock beat as the reeds patiently build to a crescendo. The scope of the piece is epic; the music mesmerizing.
“Embraceable Me” and “Angles” are darker in tone, the former beginning as a deep, rumbly free-for-all that is both cinematic and discordant but taking a haunting turn that carries over to the dark, foreboding “Angles.” Ghostly intensity and unbalanced harmonies give an aesthetic tension to the music; Ferreira and Mitchell often conjuring color and texture just out of obvious earshot. The set concludes with “False Impressions” and—like “Small World In A Small Town”—changing themes, tempos and modulation create a labyrinth of movements.
Produced and mixed by ECM label-mate and past colleague, guitarist David Torn, You’ve Been Watching Me represents another forward-looking development for Berne and Snakeoil. The quintet works in various breakout formations adding to the variety of textures and sounds. There’s an openness in this setting that adds depth and drama to the improvisations that weave through the arrangements. Berne’s music has never been anything less than challenging, but here it is broader and more accessible without sacrificing edginess; You’ve Been Watching Me is a major achievement in Berne’s portfolio. –Karl Ackermann, All About Jazz

When Tim Berne recorded with his Snakeoil band for ECM in 2012, it marked the debut of his new working band and the first time he’d cut a studio album in a decade. With Oscar Noriega on clarinets, pianist Matt Mitchell, and drummer Ches Smith, Berne was able to extend the horizons in his compositions. While conversational intrigue, fiery improvisation, knotty counterpoint, and wildly varying dynamics had long been part of his aesthetic, they found a fluid yet immediate language on 2013’s Shadow Man. That quartet has become a quintet with the addition of guitarist Ryan Ferreira on You’ve Been Watching Me (produced by David Torn). If you’re thinking of this as a direct link to his Bloodcount group that added guitarist Marc Ducret, you’re only partially right. Ferreira adds not just firepower, but a unique ability to explore texture and space. Four of the album’s seven pieces are over ten minutes. Opener “Lost in Redding” commences with an avant-prog-like intro as harmonic cadences are woven together almost knot-like. Ferreira and his distortion boxes cut loose before restrained clarinet and saxophone skeins give way to a gorgeous Mitchell solo. There isn’t anything “small” about “Small World in a Small Town.” Over 18 minutes long, its first five-and-a-half are a duet between Berne and Mitchell that begins elliptically but gathers force and labyrinthine dimensions before the rest of the band enters. Ferreira’s guitar is another lyric instrument in an expansive, contrapuntal study that opens on to a spacious yet at times sparse sonic vista. Noriega’s clarinet solo is lovely before the band re-enters in a bluesy, steam-gathering waltz. “Embraceable Me” has a chamber ensemble’s intimacy, albeit one where Smith’s use of vibes is as poignant as it is illustrative, and it holds down its angular lyric line. It maintains that feel even when the dynamic increases with Noriega (on sax) and Ferreira adding cadenza-like extensions before dialoguing in jagged yet precise counterpoint and then shifting toward a thematic five-note pulse (Mitchell) as Ferreira, Noriega, and Berne add tonal color and breadth before introducing another complex harmonic line with the guitarist taking it out. Most of “Semi-Self Detached”‘s ten-plus minutes is made up of long languorous spaces, ambient textures, and melodic suggestions that give way to a blistering free alto saxophone solo, cracking clattering drums, majestic piano, and precise, gear-like lyricism at its nadir. “False Impressions” features frenetic, unmistakably swinging conversations between Berne and Noriega in the tune’s head (with hints of Julius Hemphill’s influence). Mitchell places a percussive, tangled melodic frame as Smith adds dimension on vibes and Ferreira’s distorted guitar lines soar atop. Even the long, shapeshifting, textural digression in the center is focused, smart, and full of surprises. You’ve Been Watching Me is the most structured record from Snakeoil as well as the most varied. The band’s language has expanded with the addition of Ferreira, yet it’s more intuitive — where the space and complexity are different shades in the face of beauty. –Thom Jurek, AllMusic

Tracklist:
01. Tim Berne’s Snakeoil – Lost In Redding (06:58)
02. Tim Berne’s Snakeoil – Small World In A Small Town (18:26)
03. Tim Berne’s Snakeoil – Embraceable Me (14:12)
04. Tim Berne’s Snakeoil – Angles (02:26)
05. Tim Berne’s Snakeoil – You’ve Been Watching Me (01:46)
06. Tim Berne’s Snakeoil – Semi-Self Detached (10:23)
07. Tim Berne’s Snakeoil – False Impressions (13:21)

Personnel:
Tim Berne: alto saxophone
Oscar Noriega: clarinet, bass clarinet
Matt Mitchell: piano and electronics
Ryan Ferreira: electric and acoustic guitars
Ches Smith: drums, vibraphone, percussion, timpani

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