It’s been a while since I’ve written about drummer Kate Gentile. In 2023, she released two of the best albums of that year: her collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble, biome i.i., and the extraordinary triple album Find Letter X, which I wrote about here and voted for as my favorite release of the year.
Since then, Gentile has been busy playing in NYC, releasing great albums on her Obliquity Records label (check out pianist Matt Mitchell’s Illimitable and Sacrosanctity), and recently did a tour of Europe where she played with saxophonist/clarinetist Jeremy Viner and guitarist Marc Ducret as the group Sifters. That trio had a chance to record in January in Osnabrück, Germany, and the music was released last Friday as the eponymously-named Sifters (Obliquity 006). It’s available on Bandcamp only, which you can find here:
Sifters is a wonderful showcase for all three of its members. Guitarist Marc Ducret is a legend (as Tim Berne fans know), and his fluid playing and biting skronk are the next step after Robert Fripp. The speed he plays during portions of “innominate” from Sifters is particularly amazing, but his lines are always clearly articulated, and he has a tone that keeps punching through the fabric. In my review of Find Letter X, I raved about Jeremy Viner, and he sounds better than ever here. His tenor playing convincingly ranges from a hushed whisper to frenetic wailing on his “tenons” and he brings a commanding tone to album closer “90 cairns.” I’m looking forward to hearing more from Jeremy Viner! Finally, Kate Gentile is known for her fluency with rhythmic complexity, and this music is quite complex, but I think her drumming also stands out for its musicality. She does what great drummers do best – keep the band centered while making the drums the fire that animates the music. With every contour and gesture on Sifters, Gentile’s drums are right there pushing the music where it needs to go.
But what struck me most about the music of Sifters is the lively interplay of composition and improvisational space. Or, at least what sounds like “composition” and “improvisation,” because if what I’m hearing is improvised, I’ll say there’s nothing random about the development of the musical structures, and if pre-composed, it’s played with a spontaneity that feels inspired. For example, take the opening track, Gentile’s intense “flail maneuvers.” The tune starts with a clearly pre-composed head, but within a few seconds, Viner’s tenor is soloing while the guitarist continues to outline the form. Then Ducret plays a wild solo full of overdriven guitar, building to an apex which Viner joins with frenetic support from Gentiles’ drums. But quickly the tempo changes, and while Ducret goes back to the stop-step contour of the theme, but stated differently from how it started, slower and with accents that sound changed – Composed? Improvised? Puzzling over this alchemy is one of the joys of Sifters. This group performs the same type of sleight-of-hand on compositions like Gentile’s “innominate,” Viner’s “vault” and Ducret’s “Tarot.” Clearly blurring the lines between what’s written and what’s not is part of the group’s musical language; it’s done very well here by high-level musical thinkers playing fascinating music in a commanding way. Sifters is highly recommended.
I’ve also really been enjoying the four albums released by NYC-based label Relative Pitch on October 24: Berlinde Deman’s Plank, Zeena Parkins and Cecilia Lopez’s Red Shifts, Sofia Borges & Ada Rave’s The Unseen Pact, and Tarabita Espiral from Maria Valencia, Matt Moran, and Brandon Lopez. They’re all fascinating discs that basically map out two contrasting approaches to creative music. The former two are bathed in quiet mystery. Deman plays an instrument called the serpent, to which she applies effects and pedals. The music is darkly ambient and quite beautiful. Usually, I would supply a link to let you see just what the serpent is, but instead, listen to Plank and let your imagination run wild. You can Google it later. Two more unique instruments are featured on the evocatively named Red Shifts – Zeena Parkins’ electric harp and Cecilia Lopez’s “handwoven electronic instrument made from speaker wire” as the liner notes called it, which she calls RED. This time, I’ll provide a link (from 2019 at Roulette) so you can match an image to the sounds. What is that? When you go back to Red Shifts, you can only listen in wonder.
The second two Relative Pitch albums released last Friday dial the energy way up. Amsterdam-based saxophonist Ada Rave and Berlin-based drummer Sofia Borges play an album of fascinating duets on The Unseen Pact. I love the way Rave explores sound, sometimes playing with an energetic burr-like texture, and other times incorporating a rough-hewn lyricism. Drummer Borges disrupts and inspires with angular lines and unconventional tones. Finally, Tarabita Espiral documents a live 2024 performance at Brooklyn’s IBeam with Maria Valencia on reeds, Matt Moran’s vibraphone, and Brandon Lopez’s bass. The music reminds me of old school fire music – the trio is locked in and plays out, burning all the way. Try listening to all four of these albums in a row – they represent a sort of continuum, and are a great afternoon’s diversion.
Or you can listen with me (if you’re awake!) starting at 2 AM this Sunday November 2, 2025, on my radio show, Where Is Brooklyn? broadcasting from Poughkeepsie, NY at WVKR, Vassar College radio. This Sunday, I’ll be playing the music of Kate Gentile – I’ll play from Sifters, and also go back to those 2023 albums – Find Letter X and biome i.i. Then I’ll play tracks from the Relative Pitch albums I discussed. If you’re in the Hudson Valley, the show can be heard on the radio at 91.3FM. In the rest of the world (NYC too), you can listen at wvkr.org. I’ll add a playlist to this post after the show airs, so you can check that out if you can’t stay up super late on Sunday morning.
But I hope to listen together with you!
