Four albums from this summer

Here are four new Canadian albums that came out recently and struck me, from Vancouver to Toronto and onward to Nova Scotia:

• Take the portal and reckon with the Great Mine's tragedy
• Follow The Path of smooth-ish fusion with a sextet of young guns
• A duo collides old-time and electroacoustic music
• An east-coast creative ensemble is back and better than ever

Robyn Jacob - New Forevers

On her latest album of notated, not improvised music, Robyn Jacob doesn't play or sing. Her pieces are performed by Architek Percussion, SHHH!! Ensemble, and more contemporary music interlocutors. The piano is a percussion instrument, and New Forevers is a heady celebration of that fact by expert, committed practitioners across the continent. I listened to the digital release, not the vinyl that focuses and flips the tracks. The digital has three more tracks than the LP: a solo vibes performance by Architek's Alexander Haupt, a live performance by New York's Sō Percussion with plenty of drumkit sounds like snare and hi-hat, and another extended Architek piece with rolling, swelling mallets that give way to gentle chimes. Despite the theme of infinity, many of Jacob's pieces give before-and-after feelings. A rich piano chord jumps out of repeated single notes on the SHHH!! duo piece, "Portals I: In The Offing". Drones from two members of Architek lead to raw moments of melody from featured violist Marilou LePage on "Portals II: The Verge". The title track has vocals by a group of four contemporary singers, most of whom are based in Vancouver: Asitha Tennekoon, Lucien Durey, Danny Najjar, and Eric Biskupski. The spoken vocals introduce facts about the Northwest Territories' Giant Mine, and its neverending environmental liabilities, atop marching and shuffling sound design. "Slow violence", the singers sing as they break into harmony. "Generosity / of decay / ritualize giving", they add later over mallet percussion. The arsenic comes with the gold, and the cathartic emotion interactions of the instruments in Jacob's compositions suggest the presence we'll need to handle that reality, indefinitely. (Redshift Records, Digital & LP)

Josh Warren - The Path

Electric bassist Josh Warren and company are younger members of a Toronto cohort that includes the likes of David Hodgson, Aidan McConnell and Steven Norohna of potions, Dan Pitt, and Elastic Recordings' Michael Davidson and Dan Fortin. The Path is neither improv- nor folk-forward, like you may think from those names. None of Warren's five tunes swing, either: he instead follows tracks from the Pat Metheny Group, Jaco, and Return to Forever. On bass, he supplies the tools of that trade, like harmonics and a fretless solo on "Spirits (for Jinx)". The result is much more than a fusion-cliche outing. Warren's pianist Emmett Hodgins is also from Victoria, and Hodgins' smart introductions to multiple tracks make him feel like an alternate captain of Warren's band. Christian Antonacci, who stepped out on Jacob Chung's debut album a few years ago, is arguably their melodic frontperson and leads the way deftly on trumpet and flugel. Saxophonist Ethan Zabarylo plays perhaps my favourite solo of the record on the title track. The guitar of Miles CK is in the jazz horn-like territory much of the time, and drummer Matteo Romaniello has all the grooves down in a sensitive pocket. But when those two rip at the end – on the smoothest track, "What Remains", featuring a rock guitar solo – you connect to the band's soul. (Digital)

Harry Bartlett & Kurtis Perrie - This Is Living

Guitarist Harry Bartlett is no stranger to Rhythm Changes, but producer Kurtis Perrie is. They cooked up a charismatic, short duo album in Toronto where Bartlett plays mostly the acoustic instruments, while Perrie contributes electronics and synths. Bartlett brings the sound of his current home, Nashville, when he picks an old-time reel on the closing track, "Ways of the World". The easy, loping beat underneath it fits great with the Adhyâropa label, home of new-agey / Fourth World projects like Whispering Worlds as well as post-Berklee folk like Darol Anger and Ethan Setiawan. Bartlett and Perrie's run through the first three tracks covers tons of ground. In an acoustic guitar intro off the top, bright jazz chords meet open strings that ring across the pasture. Electric guitars, and possibly pump organ, herald a drum machine groove. Then what feels like the central track, "Childs Play" (no apostrophe), is a cinematic mix of diverse sounds plus a kid's countdown with one number out of sequence. Two other musicians join the duo to round out the project: Bjorn Kriel on mallets and Jason Martin on percussion, notably on the track "Banya". (Digital & LP, Adhyâropa Records)

Nicola Miller's Living Things - Spit!

Nova Scotia alto saxophonist Nicola Miller's group Living Things is a three-horn chordless quintet. Spit! is their second album, and it opens with bassist Nicholas D’Amato's inviting and lively tone. But it's two altos from there on the title track: Frank Gratkowski harmonizes with Miller and trombonist Doug Tielli, then takes the first solo. Miller then enters for a more abstract solo after Tielli, showing great strength and imagination as the band's clear leader. Gratkowski plays bass clarinet for the rest of the record, making for a distinct horn trio in chorale moments. Tielli's trombone deconstructs the middle part of the three-track "Telecommunications" suite. On the first part, Miller plays flute; the third part almost feels like a record unto itself, featuring Nick Fraser's titanic drumming and a n engaging group exploration. Miller's brilliant pieces and powerful playing have nailed it, sounding like the best of a 'blurred lines between improv and composition' approach. Living Things have arrived as a star ensemble on an ascendant Canadian experimental indie label. (Digital & LP, Watch That Ends The Night)