Those Who Didn't Run

10" pressed on heavyweight audiophile vinyl and comes in a screenprinted jacket featuring an illustration by nadia moss. to say colin stetson has come into his own in 2011 would be an understatement. february 2011 saw the release of colin's highly acclaimed solo album new history warfare vol. 2: judges, broadly received as a sonic, conceptual, compositional and technical tour de force. thanks to his trajectory as a session and guest player with a diverse crop of iconoclastic pop/rock practitioners - tom waits, laurie anderson, tv on the radio, arcade fire - as well as his own tenure in bands like sway machinery and bell orchestre, stetson was poised to bridge the gap between contemporary rock and more rarified currents of avant jazz. colin's astounding physical engagement with his instruments (chiefly bass and alto saxophones) produces emotionally rich and polyphonic compositions that transcend expectations of what solo horn playing can sound like. the two pieces on this new ep both clock in at 10 minutes and are documented in direct fashion, using a handful of mic positions and, as usual, no looping or overdubbing of any sort. they are brilliant single-take performances that showcase stetson's love for minimalism, a subtle pop sensibility, and a mesmerising, mantric, time-warping technical ability.