Gregory Uhlmann’s new album on Colorfield Records, “Small Day,” is a miraculous collection of miniatures, a jewelry box filled with pleasing little mechanisms of diversion. It’s not just that the album is a brisk 22 minutes and the longest song here, the wonderful “Levers,” is four minutes long—but also that each song on the album feels pieced together with a watchmaker’s tools, the arrangements so carefully constructed and thoughtful. Uhlmann’s work on this album reminds me in many ways of Wes Anderson’s recent Roald Dahl shorts (particularly the trio of very short films, “The Rat Catcher,” “Poison,” and “The Swan”), mostly because of how entertaining these songs are, how well put together, and how surprising and memorable they are.
“Phosphene,” the first track on the album, somehow recreates in music the feeling of a visual phenomena—phosphenes are traces of light or flashes that you perceive from non-light stimuli (like rubbing your eyes for example). The notes from Uhlmann’s guitar shimmer and disappear like fireworks while a lightly tapping percussion sounds off in the background (the track reminds me a little in its execution of Aleksi Perälä’s Lightworks). A piece constructed from only a few elements, a minute and a half of ticking, chiming beauty.
“Mint Chip,” the other single from the album, gives an idea of the breadth of Uhlmann’s ideas. The song starts with synth and percussion, little electronic pops. A heavier form of percussion comes in around 40 seconds into the track, and it suddenly has the blended mechanical-human feel of something like Aphex Twin’s “Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments pt2.” There’s so much melodic movement in this track, with phrases seemingly passed from instrument to instrument.
I think my favorite track on the album is “Axles,” which arrives midway through “Small Day.” It starts with chimes, or bowls, maybe, synth, then drums—a minute in is when the big beat starts, when the track kind of stumbles to its feet. This is one of two tracks that Chris Speed plays on for the album, and he’s on tenor sax here, playing beautifully all through the track, adding such a strident, seeking energy to the song. “Axles” is one of those songs that assembles itself as it goes on—all prelude and warm-up for the first little bit, then finds its groove, falling into something so compelling that you just want it to keep going and going.