Seattle's beloved subterranean music iconoclast Skerik has long found the city of New Orleans a balm for his inherently subversive musical approach. Currently calling the Crescent City his second home, the saxophonist fully embraces this dichotomy between his own profane instincts and the Big Easy's rich jazz traditions with Compersion Quartet - a band in which the he's joined by fellow incendiary musicians: pianist Brian Hass, bassist James Singleton and drummer Simon Lott. Recorded in New Orleans, the quartet's self-titled debut album presents a series of studio improvisations that amalgamate in fits and starts of cinematic beauty, syncopated melodism and mystic sonic experimentalism. Throughout the album's 11 tracks, Compersion Quartet explores deconstruction and rebirth, while undermining the math of music through enigmatic human vibrations intrinsic to improvisation. Like the green lizard adorning the album's cover art, just when the listener thinks they've captured the music's essence, it's tail detaches and it escapes back into the unknown.
