POLARITY | AnEarful RECORD ROUNDUP REVIEW

Pathos Trio - Polarity
By: Jeremy Shatan
October, 2023

The first album by this trio of two percussionists and a pianist made waves in my life last year, when I noted the rich recording and their bold engagement with composers, all of whom were commissioned for the project. Their sophomore release may be even more exciting, with percussionists Marcelina Suchocka and Felix Reyes, now being joined by pianist/composer Will Healy, who has stepped in for Alan Hankers. Whether it’s that change in personnel or simply a matter of the composers they’re working with this time, the sense of freedom - perhaps even from their original conception of what Pathos could be - is palpable. Kicking off with Ian Chang’s fragmented, witty Mega Cicada, the change announces itself immediately, with electronics masterfully integrated with the percussion. I was stoked to see Phong Tran here and his Split is a wild ride indeed, with colorful synth passages at the forefront. Pity, by Andrew M. Rodriguez, touches on jazz with its constant forward motion and Vincente Hansen Atria’s Monolito pushes into some discomfiting areas of distortion, repetition, and off-kilter rhythms. Works by Paul Mortilla and Clara Warnaar are equally fascinating, firmly establishing Pathos as a group with adventurous taste and the skills to follow through on wherever that may lead them.