Recommended: David Tranchina – “Grey Sky”

On Grey Sky, bassist David Tranchina offers up six concise works as if showing floor model soundtracks for stormy weather.  The opener “When Will It Rain?” is meant for exactly those times when the answer to that question is “any minute now.”  The melody trickles out and the moodiness is a perfect match for a horizon framed by dark clouds.  Guest vocalist Argenta Walther is the sound of thunder on “The Flood,” when all hell breaks loose.  “Nectarine” is for puttering around the house to keep the cabin fever at bay.  And when it gets to be too much and the walls close in, the gentle sway of “Blue Fragments” is for an aimless drive around the city in the storm, whereas “Yotabytes” is when gleefully running through the rain sounds like more fun.  The title-track closes out the album, and its uneasy peacefulness and ominous undertone is the atmosphere of a storm winding down, when the sky is still charged with wild electricity and an uncertainty hangs in the air whether the elemental upheaval is truly over.

And though the entirety of Grey Sky seems bound together by that common theme, in actuality, each piece has a personality distinct one from the other.  The album’s sense of cohesion is a condition of its imagery.  It lends to no little bit of intrigue, and considering it’s Tranchina’s debut as a session leader, it’s a promising development.

Your album personnel:  David Tranchina (bass), Gary Fukushima (piano, Wurlitzer), Trevor Anderies (drums) and guest: Argenta Walther (voices).

Released on Orenda Records.

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from Los Angeles.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon