KEVIN FRENETTE - CONNECTIONS (FULLER STREET MUSIC 1781)

Given the track titles it comes as no surprise that (1) is very angular and mathematical sounding music. Kevin Frenette plays guitar in the stabbing, busy style of Joe Morris, spraying notes all over these tracks usually with pianist Andy McWain skipping wildly alongside and bassist Todd Keating and percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani pinballing off the both of them. The group spends the majority of the CD playing in a jangly, stutterstep motion that is constantly moving. Some variety is provided on "Amalgamation" where Frenette breaks off into echoing trebly riffs against his bandmates' randomness and "Logic Synthesis" which goes into a quieter form of abstraction with eerie bowed bass and cymbals and weeping guitar sustains. This is one of those CDs that seems random on the surface but reveals its inner logic the more you listen to it. It is an interesting set of agitated, active music.

--- Jerome Wilson – Cadence Magazine