Switches by Tropos

As a Brooklyn resident and someone who primarily exists in a metropolis, I enjoy taking in horizons and skylines at every opportunity. On my way into the city, I often find myself wondering if the Manhattan skyline is a product of chance, in-depth urban planning, or an odd mix of both.

Could architect William Van Alen have guessed what the skyline would look like from the BQE during some future rush hour? What consideration was given to situating his composition so that it would not block out the sun or overshadow Grand Central’s Tiffany Clock? Overcoming zoning setbacks, a race for the tallest building and a stock market crash, Van Alen literally had to sue Chrysler for compensation after the completion of the Chrysler Building in 1930.

The four members of the group Tropos—Yuma Uesaka, Ledah Finck, Phillip Golub, and Aaron Edgcomb—are the urban planners of a new city called Switches. As I listen to the nine tracks of Tropos’ new album, I hear forward thinking designers with rigorous structures and architectural vision. Strolling through their streets I experienced “Witchess” as a regenerative skyscraper, “Lukán” an urban park full of wondrous vegetation, “Between the Times” a local bar in an old neighborhood protected by zoning, and “Aerator Debris” a scenic beltway circling the metropolis.

This collective of young composers and improvisers have built a metropolis that doesn’t feel like a destination for travelers unwilling to turn off GPS. A love of process and discovery seems to be driving this music. There are no selfie vibrations here, just a fearless commitment to compositional intention and to the development of Tropos’ collective improvisational language.

In 1918, Le Corbusier—an architect, designer, painter, urban planner, and writer—befriended the Cubist painter Amédée Ozenfant, which led to the creation of the art movement Purism. Two principles of this movement are: art consists in the conception before anything else, and technique is only a tool, humbly at the service of the conception. Each compositional work on Switches embodies these two principles and what I believe makes this ensemble special.

Listen to this music fearlessly and embrace a new metropolis.

-Darius Jones

Tropos is a collective ensemble of improviser-composers based in Brooklyn, NY.

troposmusic.org