Reveries

Toronto’s Reveries are a bizarre three-headed monster consisting of Eric Chenaux, Ryan Driver, and Doug Tielli, and their latest live album is a surreal document of their unique musical approach. All gifted musicians with some footing in the experimental and improvised music communities, when these three come together as the Reveries they rework jazz standards and popular love ballads (i.e., "Gone With the Wind,” "Mood Indigo,” etc.) in the most peculiar ways. The core of the sound is Chenaux’s invention of a mouth-speaker network, where a small cell phone speaker enters every Reveries’ mouth and each of their instruments is outfitted with a contact microphone. Then each musical instrument’s sound can be heard from a different member’s mouth and, because everyone is using their mouth to sing or play, the sounds they produce are often guttural and distorted. As evident on pieces like "You’ve Changed” and "Who Can I Turn To,” every noise or movement created by the Reveries in this state is charmingly cartoon-ish, and gets at the basic instincts of these love songs. Live in Bologna is inventive and truly unlike anything you’re likely to hear.