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Tonight the New Fracture Quartet, a newish ensemble led by drummer Tim Daisy (pictured), celebrates the release of its debut album 1,000 Lights (on the Polish Multikulti imprint) with a performance at the Hideout. Unfortunately, as Daisy informs me, the album art isn’t done–meaning there isn’t yet a tangible release to celebrate. But I’ve heard the recording, and the band’s music sounds promising enough that I don’t need a special occasion to check them out.
Branch can get raucous or abstract with the best of them, but here she often plays with a more restrained lyric quality–the occasionally delicate melodies she and Miller contribute make it clear that this band isn’t simply paying homage to the mid-90s Chicago scene. And though Daisy and McBride, who also play together in the Engines and the Frame Quartet, can roll like a Mack truck, they also know how stop on a dime. Their facility at accelerating and decelerating allows them to shape Daisy’s compositions into vigorous, dynamic organisms.
