The Breakdown
“Distinctly gifted musician”, “Canadian mainstay”, “master sonic storyteller” are all quotable snippets which journos have rustled up for multi-instrumentalist and composer Colin Fisher. But as you dig into his sprawling catalogue you begin to realise that for once these aren’t empty words, if anything they’re an understatement. Here is a musician who’s been energising the Toronto music scene and beyond for around two decades now. A virtuoso guitarist, acclaimed sax player, drummer and more, a brilliant interpretive improviser, a boundary pushing electronic artist, Fisher’s work confounds easy definition. He’s played alongside Jamie Branch, Joe McPhee, Braxton, Laraaji and Frith as well as collaborated with artists from all points of the musical map, leftfield IDM (Caribou/Junior Boys) to rock bands (Pup/Born Ruffians).
His own solo work, six albums in, shows a similar restless creativity. 2018’s ‘V Le Pape’ focused on hyper-textural guitar soundscapes whereas ‘The Garden Of The Unknowing’ from the same year shimmered through a flow of deep pooled, improvisational jazz. Then in 2021 came the ‘Reflections of the Invisible World’, an exquisitely woven set of looping instrumentals with gentle transportive powers.
Now we have Fisher’s new album, ‘Suns of the Heart’, via the ever discerning We Are Busy Bodies. As well as being his first for the label, this time around he’s collaborated with fellow Torontonian electronic producer David Psutka, founder of the Halocline label (who released Fisher’s last outing) and a similarly unflinching innovator. It seems Psutka did more than simply oversee the recording of ‘Suns Of The Heart’ in his studio. Responding to Fisher’s suggestion that they both worked on deconstructing/reconstructing his fundamental looping, improvisational structures, the pair set about shaping more expansive, multi-faceted music.
The reverberations from their shared perspectives are evident from the off, on the beautifully rendered opening track Acts Of Light. It’s a piece that dawns gracefully, harmonic shards launching a ripple of chords and pristine glissandos tumbling down Fisher’s fretboard. Mid-point though the clean shafts of sound are fractured, the illusion broken by piercing, volatile guitar runs. This brief fission captures the Fisher/Psutka partnership urging each other into less familiar territories, encouraging the risk before a calm melodic ambience is reclaimed.
The guitar may continue to be Fisher’s primary communicator in this new work but his creative expression has never revolved entirely around dexterous fretboard manipulation. Often his visceral sax playing, both tenor and alto, takes the lead or gets embroiled in a deep musical conversation with his guitar. Deus Absconitus pivots on such an extended exchange contrasting searing, frantic fuzzed electric phrases with reassuring warmth of his horn melodics. A wash of becalmed electronic colouring maintains the equilibrium as the discussion unravels before the eastern zing of tanbur chords whip up a dramatic ending.
Throughout ‘Suns of the Heart’ Fisher and Psutka maintain a Jon Hassell-like awareness of compositional flow even on the album’s more fractious tracks. Luminous Light throbs to muted guitar pneumatics before a banshee of white noise, scrambling guitar shreds and sax skronk, builds to a squealing, pained demise. Uneasy listening maybe but also propelled with a purpose to mark a key point in the ‘Suns of the Heart’ trajectory.
From here the album realises a calmer, more serene state. Terra Lucida pulses contentedly to an earthy rumbling rhythm while singing praises through the bluesy swoop of Fisher’s slide tones. Equally at peace but more ethereal Mundial Imaginalis pans out like a Fennesz moment on layers of glistening guitar strata, widescreen and wonderful. Fisher’s emotive sax gathers you up lovingly here, soothingly melodic but openly human with the sound of fluttering keys audible and atmospheric.
These more meditative periods also serve a thematic purpose after the tense dynamics wired into the early tracks on ‘Suns of the Heart’. Fisher credits the work of philosopher Henry Corbin as an inspiration for the album as well as track titling and intriguingly the music seems to reflect elements of the French scholar’s ideas around the real, the imagined and the spiritual. Some pieces reverberate with immense physicality, others seek something more immersive and essentially elevating while a track like Illuminato Matutina takes you drifting unconsciously between different responses.
It begins wrapped in spooky minimalism, plucked Frith-esque chord abstractions and secretive pauses, sparse notes weighted with anticipation. Muted arthropod riffs scuttle across the piece, unsettling and agitated until Illuminato Matutina finds a shimmering resolve. A swelling noise crescendo briskly finishes the piece and closes the album, leaving you suspended in your own thoughts.
That’s not to say that ‘Suns of the Heart’ sets out to puzzle. Colin Fisher has made another piece of serious, accomplished music which encourages you to think and wonder for yourself. It doesn’t tell you how to listen or what to feel but uncannily opens up so many possibilities over the six-track continuum. Ultimately here we have an album that is a testament to the musician Fisher is today as well as a reminder of his ongoing significance. That he has been behind such truly expansive music for such a sustained period surely warrants the same recognition that has opened up for Bill Orcutt and Oren Ambarchi in recent times.
Get your copy of ‘Suns of the Heart’ by Colin Fisher from your local record store or direct from We Are Busy Bodies HERE
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