Swana, Motzer, Hirlinger – Channels (1k Recordings, 1k042)

Channels (1k recordings, 1k042) — the debut release by three celebrated Philadelphia musicians John Swana, Tim Motzer, and Doug Hirlinger — is an album that immediately beckons and challenges the listener with evocative, multilayered electro-acoustic improvisations and compositions. Channels captures the unique energy and sonic chemistry between the players; the album’s dynamic tension also hints at today’s unresolved social, economic, political challenges. Questioning melodies and complex, brooding soundscapes are punctuated by free–jazz drumming. The record ebbs with harmonic drifts, languid electronic suspensions, and looping textural guitars and synths.

Channels originally began as a duo recording by Swana and Motzer. After a weekend of intensive, experimental improvisation at 1K Recordings in Philadelphia, they invited Hirlinger to respond on drums – which transformed the material. For several months afterward, Swana and Motzer pored over the live studio recordings, whittling down long-form improvisations and adding orchestral layers of brass to opening track “Lost.” Anthony Tidd (longtime member of Steve Coleman and Five Elements) contributed six-string, fretless electric bass melodies to “Drift” and “Channel.” The result is a uniquely intimate and urgent record – one that defies simple categorization and reveals its intriguing richness over time.