Secret People - Secret People CD
SKU
OOYH 014
Nathaniel Morgan - alto saxophone
Dustin Carlson - guitar, Bass VI
Kate Gentile - drums & vibraphone
“Secret People is a band. It began in 2012 as a duo of Brooklyn-based guitarist Dustin Carlson and drummer Kate Gentile, who not only played frequently, but lived together as roommates and worked in the same coffee shop for years. There were countless hours (literally hundreds) spent co-composing and rehearsing the music, but countless more discussing and listening to influences from Marc Ducret, to Autechre, to Morton Feldman, to Merzbow. They cooked together, ate together, went to shows together, played in other people’s bands together, and their time spent developing Secret People and activities shared as friends were indistinguishable from one another. In fact, their friendship is what makes Secret People a band just as much as the music. It goes without saying that this kind of investment in, and dedication to a musical collaboration is rare, if not nearly extinct, in modern-day Brooklyn. Secret People (both the band and forthcoming self-titled album) take their favorite aspects of compelling, detailed compositions, and equally merge them with their favorite aspects of fearless, unbridled improvised music.
In 2018 Gentile and Carlson added Nathaniel Morgan to Secret People as a free agent. His natural instincts are so good they assumed he would find his own place in the music strictly as an improviser, with no expectation to learn composed parts they had been rehearsing together for years without him. But with the vision of Secret People in mind, where the composition and improvisation are given equal importance, Morgan committed to learning a set of complex music (very much not written for the saxophone) and quickly became an equal part of the band. The creativity is not limited to just the performance: Morgan proves himself to be a brilliant mixing engineer (he mixed the album himself), and acts almost as a fourth band member in that role on the recording (headphones highly recommended). You can hear the time spent developing this music as you listen to Secret People. Not only are intricately-composed parts executed effortlessly, but the improvisations unfold patiently and naturally. There are dense moments of intense chaos, followed by moments of near-silence where sound and space are explored at length, with no one rushing what comes next. Their influences, ranging from jazz, to metal, to modern classical are present, but Secret People only sound like themselves. At a time when it is increasingly common for recordings to be made after two quick rehearsals, Secret People is a welcome change. It’s a joy to hear a band.”
- LabelOut Of Your Head
- UPC198003241435