Enneads - Enneads CD

Enneads is a New York-based trio featuring pianist Phyllis Chen, drummer Hamir Atwal, and Zach Layton on the rare 17-string electric bass. Named after the writings of the neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus, the ensemble approaches improvisation through the ancient idea, first articulated by Pythagoras, that harmony is “number made audible.” The trio uses natural string harmonics as the foundation of its concept of improvisation. Harmonic and inharmonic overtones, sympathetic vibrations, rhythmic proportions, and resonant room acoustics are all parameters of an emerging musical form explored through Chen, Atwal, and Layton’s intuitive approach to spontaneous composition. Layton’s gigantic and unusual instrument, the 17-string bass, is played in a variety of tunings and functions almost like an amplified Greek Lyre (or maybe a Baroque electric Theorbo), running through heavy fuzz, distortion, and ring modulation, while Chen explores the interior of an amplified grand piano, producing rich constellations of expanded sound clusters, and the percussive attack of the hammers as they strike the strings, running through a Rat distortion circuit.