Leeds trio eyeshutight have mysteriously condensed their name. It’s the only impenetrable aspect of an otherwise vibrant identity. Led by bassist/composer Paul Baxter and featuring pianist Johnny Tomlinson and drummer Kristoffer Wright, they don’t disguise affections for the late Esbjörn Svensson’s trio, Tord Gustavsen, and the Bad Plus.
But they’re an outfit with a mind of their own: Baxter rams inspiration from Bill Hicks and a Rage Against the Machine hook into the title track, and the pensive, yet scrambled finale, Re: Sounds, emphasises the album’s compositional shape by returning to parts of the opener played backwards. The metronomic Addict is postboppish and balefully repetitive, while Transition, Theism and the rhapsodic T&C are graceful mood-pieces. The Precipice is a breathless groover driven by Wright’s hard-rocking – and eventually contrapuntal – drumming. The soloing can be a little static at times, but the writing suggests a young band that’s blossoming.
