John Korsrud's Absolute Unit: A Band for a Dangerous World
Connecting with 7 members of the cinematic, uncategorizable large ensemble about what I heard Wed, Jan. 21 at the Fox
Hearing composer and trumpeter John Korsrud's large electroacoustic ensemble called Absolute Unit, as I did on Wednesday, January 21st at the Fox Cabaret, was like watching an action movie. They took us on a nonstop 90-minute expedition: drones, collective improv, bleeps and boops of droid-like noises, and R&B-soul gems.
The band has also been a balm for many of its members, including seven whom I reached by email or Instagram in just the 24 hours after the show. Absolute Unit gives them space to breathe and feel alive in that dangerous world. They used words like diverse, affirming, and freedom to sum up how they felt about what Korsrud facilitated.
