Chicago Underground Quartet
Good Days
SCORE: 8.4 Maynards out of 10
Chicago Underground Quartet’s essence has remained intact despite the great time gap between their debut and this album. This may feel like both an asset and a flaw, but to the band’s credit, there are some slight ventures into unexplored terrains.
Tool took quite some time to release their last album, making us wait for almost 13 years just so we could sit through the bulk of utter disappointment that was Fear Inoculum (2019); the passage of time might have made them better musicians, but it certainly did not make them a better band. Daughters took almost 10 years since their last work -the decent, but divisive, self-titled LP- to grace our ears with their much beloved noisy ugliness, but the result was way different; in their case, the time they spent apart did actually help them become a better, tighter unit, and the result was the horrendous masterpiece that was 2018’s You Won’t Get What You Want. So, we can surmise that the secret for success lies in waiting no more than 10 years to release new music, right?
We should ask the good fellas from the Chicago Underground Quartet how they feel about that statement, since they pretty much spent almost two decades since their self-titled debut back in 2001, before releasing Good Days just a few days ago. The time frame alone is worth some praise just because of how organically everything came to be, but, despite a few missteps, this is a refreshingly solid record.
Formed in ‘94 -by composers Rob Mazurek and Jeff Parker- as a revolving door for musicians to come and go as they pleased, Chicago Underground’s take on jazz has never been entirely academic nor entirely off-kilter, but it’s always had a futuristic sound. The group has always threaded lightly between experimentation and tradition and that has been pretty much their signature move since their inception. Unlike Tool (it feels weird to mention these bands in the same review) each member did remain musically active this whole time, growing not only as musicians but as band members -sometimes separately, sometimes together-, making their reunion feel more like a get-together rather than a choir.
Fortunately, their essence as the quartet has remained intact, and the gap between albums doesn’t feel that big, but this is both an asset and a flaw: Good Days does not sound exactly like the self-titled album, but after almost 20 years, perhaps more elements could have been added. Jeff Parker’s unmistakable twangy arpeggiated chords still extend like spiderwebs upon which Mazurek’s trumpet lines walk, sometimes frantically and sometimes delicately; Chad Taylor’s restrained virtuosity on the drums still propels the songs with relaxed rhythms and genre-crossing versatility, but now he synchs with Josh Johnson’s synth bass lines, instead of Noel Kupersmith’s heavy upright bass tracings.
To the band’s credit, there are some ventures into unexplored terrains. The two solo pieces, “All the Bells” and “Lomé” -by Mazurek and Taylor respectively- are beautiful, introspective detours that showcase each musician’s strengths. Mazurek’s trumpet sounds anxious, but his relatively calm delivery adds tension which is matched by the background noises; it is a beautiful juxtaposition of animic states. On the other hand, Taylor’s percussive piece is dreamy -yet tactile- experience, full of timbre and rhythm.
Both tracks have this sacred and vital feel to them, as if their inclusion was necessary to show that, amidst all the experimentation, there’s still a deep, emotional and spiritual drive that runs in the band’s core. Parker also takes a stab at a solo spot, but only for brief moment, as his soothing chord progression on “Good Days (For Anna Lee)” is soon accompanied by the others, in one of the album’s gentler -and better produced- moments; the guitar tone is as silky as its execution and delivery.
The futuristic aspect of the quartet’s sound can be felt on their version of Alan Shorter’s “Orgasm”, although it feels somewhat stiff when compared to the original. The band sounds chaotic when they have to, and soft when the tension is over, all with clean transitions, but it feels too well measured; it does not have the trademark sense of looseness the band is known for. They do succeed in conveying a crumbling effect as the track progresses, and if you’re note familiar with Shorter’s version, “Orgasm” works as an Underground’s original track just fine.
Every song in Good Days oozes with the chemistry of a band that’s clearly in it for the passion. They know their flaws but they play through them with confidence and enjoyment; it’s easy to imagine the quartet just jamming away to “Strange Wing” or “Unique Spiral” feeling every hit and every miss with the same sense of discovery as they did 20 years ago. Johnson’s ethereal touch on the piano and keyboards was an excellent addition to the band’s sound, adding a different layer to the Underground’s personality. Good Days was definitively worth the wait and it is proof that, if you’re not going to return completely renovated, you might as well improve on what you already know what to do, and enjoy every second of your comeback. Tool may benefit from this advise, and who knows, maybe they’ll surprise us with another ÆNIMA once they’re in their seventies or eighties.
