Anthony Wilson’s “Collodion,” the newest release from Colorfield Records, has a playful spirit, in that the whole record feels like the result of Wilson coming into the studio, choosing an instrument, and sitting down to play—and from that action turning out these beautiful, intricate compositions. It’s the kind of staggering facility you see in some musicians, where no matter where they are, or what instrument or set up they’re presented with, they can just create cool shit. Wilson seems like that kind of musician—a talent that’s impossible to turn off or stymie. (Thinking about this reminded me of this rad video of Sam Shepherd/Floating Points talking through the set-up of his Buchla system and creating some pretty great loops in the process). “Collodion” feels like such a confident album, the kind of music you make when you know you have a strong musical aesthetic, but you can also play around with it and try new sounds, new forms. This is especially evident in the way Wilson takes the first song the album, the gorgeous “Star Maiden,” and repeats it twice more, as “Divine One” and “Muse of Joy,” in vastly different ways, with different arrangements and feeling, in restless creativity.
“Dream Oracle,” from the middle of the album, really shows off what Wilson’s doing on “Collodion.” “Dream Oracle” is a song that never sits still, it’s totally protean, shifting every 20 seconds into a new shape, but still maintaining a central drive. This song not only has something like five different types of keyboards (all played by Wilson—along with percussion), in addition to Wilson’s insane guitar playing, but also features fantastic playing from two other Colorfield-related folks: Anna Butterss on bass and Daniel Rotem on tenor sax. You can hear Butterss all through the track, adding heft and texture in all these interstices in the song, and then Rotem enters maybe midway through the song with the same kind of declarative, calligraphic playing he showed on this year’s “Wave Nature.” The tail end of this song is a whirlwind.
One of the coolest things about “Collodion” is how much keyboard—and how many keyboards—Wilson plays on this album. He’s mentioned that keyboard exploration is a big part of his process, even though he’s primarily a guitarist, and you can absolutely hear it here—the album is loaded with mystery sounds, surprising sounds, sounds that seem to arise from some kind of in-between instrument. The other side of this is that it’s thrilling when Wilson lets loose on guitar. Listen, for instance, to him levitating throughout the end of “Far Growing Nearer” or the knotty solo he inserts into the middle of “Heart Whispering.” Astounding imagination.