Emergency Group

I’ve been waiting on this one for some time. NY jazz-psych ensemble Emergency Group has been bringing the higher forms to the East Coast for a while now, already eking out a place on the speakers with releases from Island House and Centripetal Force, but now they unleash their first LP for RSTB faves Big Ego. The band entered the studio last year with labelhead Chris Schlarb (Psychic Temple), ready to push their improv-heavy hues into new directions. In addition to the studio upgrade, the album marks the first time that the band has documented works that were composed previous to the recording — the heady title track, and the delicate closer “Julien.” Planning has done little to temper the band’s immediacy, and both still feel like a vital part of Emergency Group’s exploratory jazz rock repertoire, lapping at‘70s psychedelics with a supple sway.

Between these bookend compositions the band is back to their improv basics, but with Schlarb behind the boards there’s an extra dimensional aura that brings out shading in the band’s work. When they dive into the deep on longform cuts there’s an electricity in the air — the kind of charged anticipation that accumulates right before a lightning strike. The band is constantly coiling and curling, turning phrases into inertia on instinct. There’s well-worn worry that bands can have trouble translating the fire from stage to spools, but Emergency Group’s debut LP finds them as immediate as they’e ever been. It’s great to see the band materialize what they’ve been manifesting under the lights, but here’s hoping this is just the beginning.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.