Murmurations
Kate Wyatt Trio
Independent (katewyatt.bandcamp.com/album/murmurations)
It’s truly beautiful when you can almost hear an artist’s thoughts unfolding within their compositions. Pianist and composer Kate Wyatt’s latest release takes influence from nature, specifically the murmuration of starlings, an elaborate, unifying behaviour. It unfolds like a living organism, constantly shifting shape while maintaining an inner logic.
The album captures the beauty of collective motion – ideas circling, separating, and reconvening – without ever losing its sense of purpose. All pieces are penned by the members of the trio; Wyatt, bassist Adrian Vedady and drummer Louis-Vincent Hamel.
Central to the album are Wyatt’s piano melodies, agile and conversational. She lets the phrases breathe and take on a life of their own. Vedady and Hamel round out the compositions perfectly, encouraging the music to soar to new heights. Instead of spotlighting virtuosity for its own sake, the record emphasizes interaction.
Coming back to the concept of murmuration, the music has a communal feel to it, shaped by trust and a shared curiosity. The trio feels as if it’s truly breathing as one being, ebbing and flowing as nature does, progressing through the pieces together. Sonically, a satisfying balance between warmth and clarity is achieved, with each note and nuance crystal clear, bringing the emotion and feeling within the music to the forefront.
Murmurations is thoughtful, elegant, and quietly adventurous, reflecting a mature artistic voice confident enough to let the music evolve naturally, on its own terms, with utmost grace.
