Tyondai Braxton- Central Market
6/10

On his second solo album Battles vocalist Tyondai Braxton focuses largely on those quasi-orchestral arrangements that helped make his work with the math rock band so revered. Staccato rhythms and oddly squelching sound effects feature prominently, first track ‘Opening Bell’ features familiar edgy melodies and strangely happy-sounding military whistles as heard in Battles’ Mirrored, but here they are coupled with unusual piano riffs and strings. It must be stated outright that this is no Battles follow up record, Braxton deliberately moved away from that style in favour of classical composition, which he studied at the Hartford School of Music conservatory in Connecticut. Central Market, at first listen, is like uneasy classical music made for robots or aliens, the flute’s almost grimacing and the twisted circumference of sound battles the urge to settle into a more regular pattern. But it jumps to and fro like an untamed beast; a quite enjoyable thing to listen to after all. ‘Uffe’s Woodshop’ has the same bombastic bliss and wood block percussion as Mirrored also, but Braxton’s employment of the Wordless Music Orchestra (who performed with Jonny Greenwood on Popcorn Superhet Receiver) gives a sense of urgency and direness to the music. Braxton really shows himself as conductor and mastermind here, bringing together disparate styles in his odd mini masterpiece. While only seven tracks long, each song (you’re tempted to call them movements due to their sheer tenacious size) is variably long, some five minutes, others eight or ten. Having scored the music on the computer program Sibelius, Braxton gets into some wonderful riff-jams at times (‘The Duck and the Butcher’), in an almost tropical heatwave of rhythms and melodies. The album serves as a personal recollection of sorts, detailing the last few months where things went “from really light to really foggy”. True to Braxton’s explanation, it gets more abrasive as it goes on. The thundery ‘Unfurling’ shimmies into the rocky ‘J. City’, which grows a voice with Braxton’s haunting multi-tracked baritone and a rugged guitar riff. This is possibly the most compelling song because it sounds the most human. It’s also very grungy and industrial for Braxton, which is a refreshing respite from the glamorous, super light orchestral workings of earlier. ‘Dead Strings’ clocks out with the most epic proportions. While it can err on the annoying side, feeling at times overly indulgent and self serving, it is a joy to hear Braxton’s “unlearning” of tools acquired in Battles, and rediscovering his vision. Climbing inside his head in Central Market is dark and eerie, but certainly an adventure.
Sarah

Posted by Sarah Gooding under Album, Reviews
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