Arcing Wires’ PRIME – an enigmatic fusion of math rock, metal and jazz.
Arcing Wires take due care in exploring a wide range of sounds on Prime. At times, the record echoes with post-rock’s atmospheric grandeur, math rock’s blistering time signatures and slicing riff work, coated with a healthy dose of tenor saxophone to round out the mix. Despite these elements typically coming in contradiction to one another, Arcing Wires’ real talent comes from striking down the barriers between genres with fluidity and grace.
Taking inspiration from the likes of Ben Eunson, Periphery, Avishai Cohen’s Big Vicious, Donny McCaslin and Kneebody and many more, this is one of the most eclectic, ambitious and forward thinking records to come out of Australia’s jazz scene in years.
The upcoming single off Prime, Catacaustic, begins by balancing its elements crisply and concisely. Flighty jazz segments are underlined by hard, angular chugs and snappy drums – but as the track carves onwards, the jazz sinks into a stop-start bash of metallic chops. Catacaustic is the precipice between two wildly different music worlds – it’s a credit to Arcing Wires’ talents that the flow and fit of the two sit so well on the track.
“Catacaustic is a song that came about by the desire to really push the scope of what Arcing Wires can do live,” begins saxophonist Nish Manjunath. “We wanted to write a piece that had no improvisation (aside from a small, but incredibly shredding drum solo), so the song is just composed parts the whole way through. We play all of our songs without charts at gigs, and this song really was a test to memorize some difficult rhythm cycles, and an angular song structure.
“While this was the main inspiration, we quickly found that we had to balance all of that challenging stuff with catchy hooks, melodies, and try to find some compelling sonorities that would complement the song and give it emotional depth. I think we have done a reasonable job at marrying the complexity with simplicity. Special shoutout to Steph Russell – an absolute FREAK vocalist, who can sing anything. You’ll hear her lay down the main theme of the piece, and then the back half off the tune takes that theme and evolves it with changing sonic landscapes.”
With performances at Sydney’s VIVID and Fringe Festivals, Arcing Wires are no strangers to success. 2019 took the band to Jazz festivals in Indonesia and Holland along with a successful 10 date tour across Australia – noted for their immersive live show adorned with lighting and projections. The release of Prime’s first single, The Lizard, has already turned more than a few heads – and as Catacaustic and future singles prove themselves to be more ambitious and genre-bending than the last, the full release of Prime will undoubtedly leave its mark on the Australian music scene for years to come.
Arcing Wires’ Prime is available for streaming via Bandcamp on November 6th. Catacaustic is available for streaming now.
