Down Beat (p.61) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Cline's immense musical force becomes immediately evident on the Singers' third CD, DRAW BREATH, which moves from passages of incandescent delicacy to supercharged rock energy..."
JazzTimes (p.105) - "Cline and Amendola use electronics and effects on their instruments to further twist with their sonic landscape."
Nels Cline Singers: Nels Cline (acoustic guitar); Devin Hoff (contrabassoon); Scott Amendola (drums).
Additional personnel: Glenn Kotche (crotales).
Freshly minted by Rolling Stone magazine as an official modern-day "Guitar God"--alongside the likes of John Frusciante and John Mayer--Nels Cline spent more time than usual in the early 2000s dabbling with more pop-friendly artists, even joining Wilco and collaborating with M. Ward on an EP. Despite the indie-rock notoriety, Cline is the quintessential guitar genius of the jazz underground, and on DRAW BREATH, he and his trio easily reclaim their avant-jazz mantle.
Recorded in three days by Rich Breen and Jeff Gauthier and featuring Singers stalwarts Devin Hoff on bass and Scott Amendola on electronics and percussion, DRAW BREATH is the third full-length by the ironically named trio--there are no vocalists, only instruments do the "singing." Cline and Co. keep their jazz explorations fresh by never kowtowing to accepted notions of the form. "Caved-In Heart Blues" mines a beautiful minor-key melody and a pulsing bass drum to create a haunting tribal blues. "Confection" attacks with a bracing Minutemen-style guitar riff before collapsing into an incredible double bass exhibition. But the highlight for the heads is "Mixed Message," a show-off epic with each instrument soloing fast and dexterously for 14-plus minutes. Wilco's drummer Glenn Kotche makes a special guest appearance on percussion.
