Julian Curwin follows up his 2020 album Midnight Lullaby with this second collection of what I’d describe as nocturnes. It’s a form popularised in the 19th century by Chopin, after Irish composer John Field, and involving rather brief, meditative mood pieces suggesting night. In its influences from jazz, film music and Latin sounds, Second Sight echoes its precursor, and like other releases on Curwin’s Romero label, has hints of the macabre and supernatural.
Curwin has been producing recordings for over 20 years, with such bands as The Tango Saloon, Munkle and Cannibal Spiders. With Curwin on guitars, his Midnight Lullaby ensemble features pianist Stu Hunter, bassist Lloyd Swanton – of The Necks – and percussionist Jess Ciampa. Ollie Thorpe guests on pedal steel-guitar on three tracks.
I heard Curwin’s ensemble live on a recent Australian visit, in a performance that included material from Second Sight; this was a feature in Sydney’s Johnston Street Jazz series. I felt then what I feel when listening to the album – Curwin’s slow and quietly intense music offers a singular sound-world. He’s a restrained musical artist whose music features unusual colours and textures. The beautiful First Light is a haunting, melancholy piece; the plangent Silent Storm involves a firm but restrained mid-tempo groove. Pianist Stu Hunter contributes admirably to the rather reserved, minimal ethos.
All of the compositions are characterful and memorable, while sharing a general nocturnal ambience; tracks are quite short, and none outlives its welcome. Curwin is not a showman, and the pieces end abruptly, without any show-stopping flourish – but that’s in itself a stylistic signature. His work yields a rich, deep musical experience, and I’d like to hear more of it.
Discography
Wake The Dead; First Light; Silent Storm; The Other Room; Rituals; Broken Night; Sleep; Papillon; Second Sight; Masquerade; Nightfall (41.40)
Curwin (g, bj, syn); Stu Hunter (p, kyb); Lloyd Swanton (b); Jess Ciampa (pc); Ollie Thorpe (pedal steel-g). Sydney, no date.
Romero Records ROM023
