Porcupine Tree, The Pineapple Thief and King Crimson drummer Gavin Harrison first played with Canadian musician Nick Johnston on the latter’s fine 2016 album Remarkably Human.
The fusion guitarist and keyboardist has performed with Intervals, Plini, Polyphia and Periphery, and this year was formally announced as a touring member of Mastodon.
Such is the pedigree behind Harrison/Johnston’s maiden, all-instrumental outing. Early Mercy is the result of Harrison sending loops and ideas fresh from his drum room to Johnston, who embellished those concepts with his own harmonic flourishes.
Allan Holdsworth/Tigran Hamasayan bassist Evan Marien is the third player here, and although it’s a trio of terrifying quality, thankfully the result is no face-melting noodle-fest.
Opener Sorcerer sets the tone with intricate metres, Mellotron textures, meandering modulations and Eastern-inflected scales. Here and elsewhere, Harrison’s drums drive the arrangement as much as Johnston’s guitars and keys.
The record rewards repeated listens, when the clever writing and instrumental detail really begin to emerge
The pair’s lingua franca is fusion, and although a set square and protractor would be required to work out the full extent of the odd time signatures, they always seem to stem from a musical idea, rather than a forced desire to be proggy.
The title track opens in 7/8, suiting the music’s restless, mysterious chromatic diversions (at times the record feels like a top rock band interpreting modern orchestral movie music). Harrison’s nuance and invention draw the listener into his instrument’s sphere here and on the 9/8-and-beyond groover Flourish And Perish, with its Hammond organ burbles and conga hits. Even for a non-drummer, his kit – beautifully, spaciously recorded – is simply a pleasure to listen to.
Often soulful, always precise but never clinical, Johnston’s guitar style owes much to Joe Satriani, particularly in his attention to delicious tone and melody. When The Flesh Was Cast Away has the most memorably lyrical line on here (with a brief, cheeky nod to In The Court Of The Crimson King, maybe?). He’s sparing with the guitar flourishes, so when the widdly moments do come they really pop.
The record rewards repeated listens, when the clever writing and instrumental detail really begin to emerge: the relatively aggressive riffs brilliantly bookending Misericorde; the exquisite cymbal and piano work on Seawater; bassist Marien’s subtly sensational motifs propelling Sorcerer II.
Early Mercy isn’t for everyone, but it is for everyone interested in Harrison, Johnston, Marien and the artists within their rarefied orbit. This is strange, beautiful music – intelligent, measured, immaculately performed.
Early Mercy is on sale now via Remarkably Human.
