Maximus, To Themselves documents an American, free-improvising quartet that explores pure Electroacoustic maximalism for intense ninety minutes on the verge of collapsing into a chaotic, noisy abyss. Kansas-based guitarist and electronics player Seth Andrew Davis (co-founder of the Mother Brain label), Chicagoan trombonist and electronics player Jeb Bishop, and drummers-percussionists – St. Louis-based Kevin Cheli and Chicagoan Weasel Walter – have collaborated in countless formats but not as a quartet.
The double album was recorded during the quartet’s first-ever meeting at Marmalade in Chicago in May 2024, and true to its DIY spirit, Walter did the mastering, Davis did the cover artwork, and Cheli did the layout and design. After the recording, this quartet began touring.
Davis and Cheli have been working as a duo, often inviting other improvisers into their f sonic universe, and in recent years have recorded with double bass master Damon Smith and trumpeter Kyle Quass. Bishop and Walter are experienced and resourceful masters of this kind of exploratory, spontaneous meetings.
The quartet’s unique instrumentation – guitarist and trombonist who alternate with electronics, and two drummers-percuussionists, in addition to the extent of the four improvised pieces (the shortest lasts fourteen minutes, and the longest lasts thirty-four minutes) and the adventurous nature of these fearless improvisers, guarantees that there were generous possibilities for irreverent, subversive experimentation, exploratory timbral options, and explorations of free, rarely resonant rhythmic possibilities.
Often, through the uncompromised, chaotic dynamics, Bishop shines as the responsible adult who attempts to introduce some reason with his commanding trombone playing (with extended breathing techniques, and sometimes expanded live electronics) into the expansive, disruptive and otherworldly electronics-heavy storms. «Seraphim, Cherubim, Ophanim (Walk Into A Bar)» enjoys two propulsive solos of drum and percussion instruments and devices enhanced by electronics. The last piece, «I Have No Mouth», settles on a fiery and thorny free jazz mode led by Bishop, before it slowly disappears into a spacious, mysterious, and noisy void.
Eyal Hareuveni
Seth Andrew Davis (electric guitar, laptop, electronics), Jeb Bishop (trombone, electronics), Kevin Cheli (drums, percussion), Weasel Walter (drums, percussion)
