Get ready for a disconcerting journey, albeit one rooted in several stylistic schools linked to modern avant-garde: from Prog Rock to Jazz fusion, via industrial electro, No Wave, microtonality, ambient and the explorations of Karlheinz Stockhausen and consort.
Stefan Hegerat (stef.in) is based in Toronto and infuses this aptly named Icterus II (there’s a vol. 1) with almost every reference to the visceral avant-garde expressivity up his sleeves. With an explicitly rock band (guitars x 2, bass, drums), he creates an astonishingly broad panorama of sounds that plunge us convincingly into the different musical universes mentioned above. Which also means that these are some damn fine musicians who pull off these often muscular exercises in creative chameleonism with such aplomb. An album in the form of a coalition of progressive forces in rock, jazz and contemporary classical music, not to be missed.
Guitar – Robyn Gray
Guitar – Patrick O’Reilly
Bass – Mark Godfrey
Drums – Stefan Hegerat
