Mercury Falls
Mercury Falls exists in the endless space between dreaming and awareness, light and dark, thought and expression. The band’s music moves in countless directions at the same time, but without confusion or cacophony. It’s quiet, but not ambient, it’s free, but not formless. As Mercury Falls pull you deeper into their own singular world, musical phrases rise and fall and spin together without any obvious logic or resolution, inviting you to open your mind and drift into a comforting space where sound is the only reality.
Mercury Falls is Patrick Cress, sax and composition; Ryan Francesconi, guitar, composition and electronics; Eric Perney, upright bass and drummer Tim Bulkley. The quartet brings years of experience in jazz, folk, pop, experimental, electronic and world music to Quadrangle, an album with seven interconnected tracks that flow together like a suite. The music can suggest West Coast cool jazz, the sounds of a tropical forest, experiential indie rock and the dark, creaky rhythms of a passing carnival, but doesn’t really sound like anything you’ve heard before.
Quadrangle
(2010)
A quartet lead by guitarist Ryan Francesconi (whose credits include arranging and conducting Joanna Newsom's latest album Have One on Me) and baritone saxophonist Patrick Cress, Mercury Falls manipulates an organic combination of ambient beats and textures with the freedom and feel of jazz. Their approach to melody is a seamless connection between acoustic instrumental artistry and imaginative programming. Subtle electronic coloring, created through field recordings, is combined with the traditional jazz combo and countless musical influences (Tortoise, Craig Taborn, Bela Bartok, and Stereolab, to name a few.) The group's debut record Quadrangle builds on the stripped sound of acoustic guitar and baritone saxophone as they move across a digital soundscape supported by acoustic bass and drums to create a sound filled with raw emotion, hope, heartache and always a sense of wonder.