# CD review: Evan Parker, Matthew Wright, Trance Map+ with Peter Evans, Mark Nauseef – Etching The Ether – 2023: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2023/08/25/cd-review-evan-parker-matthew-wright-trance-map-with-peter-evans-mark-nauseef-etching-the-ether-2023-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2023-08-25T00:04:22+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Trance Map+ is an electro-acoustic formation in constant motion. Founded by electronic
musician, turntable player and sound designer Matt Wright and saxophonist Evan Parker,
the band is in a constant process of transformation, renewal and expansion, both
conceptually and also due to fluctuations in personnel. **

This recording reunites the British saxophonist Evan Parker and his fellow countryman,
the electronic musician, turntablist and sound designer Matthew Wright.

Together, they are Trance Map, a project in constant mutation. As usual, ambiguity
and experimentation prevail, with two talented guest musicians helping them build
something unique on the spur of the moment. The participation of trumpeter Peter
Evans and percussionist Mark Nauseef, and the way they deal with sound and texture,
makes Etching the Ether a much more exciting record than the previous, Crepuscule
in Nickelsdorff (Intakt, 2019).

Putting today’s technology at their service, the foursome begin their inexhaustible
post-jazz excursion with “At Altitude”, combining high-pitched whistles, droning
electronics, infinite soprano roundabouts, growling trumpet multiphonics, sparse
gong vibrations, and a mix of tinkling, rattling, and metallic percussion sounds.

With tense layers of sound as their grooves, and a fusion of circularity and obliqueness
as their language, “Drawing Breath”, at nearly 21 minutes, is an instigation with
breadth of vision. There’s an intensification of the percussive tract at an early
stage and a buzzing tapestry over which Evans unpacks swift trumpet phrases with
an excitable temperament. Parker joins him to probe orbicular and elliptical trajectories
that, occurring in parallel, create an intensively flickering stimulus on the ear.
Riffing in ecstasy, they reach magnitudes of sound whose color, shape and motion
are difficult to anticipate. By the end, electronic murmurations accommodate dark
synth-like waves and noisy patterns of different pitches.

For “Engaged in Seeking”, the leaders gave full rein to Nauseef, who created an 
elusive background in post-production. He contributes heavily to a wider and deeper
dimension of the music, whose intensities are masterfully commanded by Parker and
Evans. They reach a climax before the quiet finale, with the trumpeter stretching
erratically over a granular texture. This stirring, free-flowing ride is best experienced
in sequence.

**Evan Parker: soprano saxophone; **

**Matthew Wright: live electronics, sound design; **

**Peter Evans: trumpet, piccolo trumpet; **

**Mark Nauseef: percussion.**

![](https://i0.wp.com/f4.bcbits.com/img/a0138495823_16.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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