Enneads Enneads Vinyl

Enneads is a New York-based trio featuring pianist Phyllis Chen, drummer Hamir Atwal, and Zach Layton on the rare 17-string electric bass. Named after the writings of the neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus, the ensemble approaches improvisation through the ancient idea, first articulated by Pythagoras, that harmony is 'number made audible. ' The trio uses natural string harmonics as the foundation of it's concept of improvisation. Harmonic and inharmonic overtones, sympathetic vibrations, rhythmic proportions, and resonant room acoustics are all parameters of an emerging musical form explored through Chen, Atwal, and Layton's intuitive approach to spontaneous composition.Layton's unique instrument, the 17-string electric bass, is played in a variety of tunings and functions almost like an amplified Greek Lyre (or maybe a Baroque electric Theorbo), running through heavy fuzz, distortion, and ring modulation, while Chen explores the interior of anamplified grand piano, producing rich constellations of expanded sound clusters, and the percussive attack of the hammers as they strike the strings, running through a Rat distortion circuit. Atwal's drumming grounds it all through fluid cycles of hypnotic pulsation and propulsive motion that contributes to a hypnotic and sensitive and tactile sense of temporal structure.Recorded between 2024 and 2026 at Layton's studio in New York's Hudson Valley, the materialon the Enneads' debut self-titled record is a distillation of the trio's approach toward simprovisation. Throughout the album, harmonicsdrift into slowly beating patterns, while dreamy reverberant atmospheres evolve into dense layers of distorted harmonics, recalling the gravitational pull of doom metal within the contextof experimental music and contemporary jazz. The first and last tracks on the album wereslowed down after recording, exploring practices pioneered by Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, (and DJ Screw) revealing temporal and harmonicrelationships within the musical landscape.