It’s not easy for drummers to get the spotlight, especially if they’re the non-singing kind—no matter how prodigiously talented they may be. For every Ahmir “Questlove” Johnson (the Roots) or Damon Che (Don Caballero), there are hundreds of anonymous men and women who pound the back beat while their bandmates take center stage. After years of playing back-up to others, including many in the Leaving and Brainfeeder label nexuses (and, curiously, accompanying Wordpress founder Matthew Mullenweg in his senior recital as a jazz major), drummer Jamire William’ establishes his voice on solo debut ///// Effectual, a surprisingly satisfying record composed almost entirely of his own drumming.
///// Effectual isn’t the first time Williams has put himself out front. Previously he lead the jazz/hiphop/rock band ERiMAJ, who released one more or less overlooked record in 2012; though he was a principal songwriter, he was also just a member and not the group’s singer. But on ///// Effectual, Williams strips away the instruments and melodies, leaving behind only his percussion, both live and looped, all the while posing a direct question about what exactly classifies as a “song.”
Williams adorns a handful of his tracks with melodic accoutrements but ten of ///// Effectual’s fifteen cuts are just in-your-face drum hits. ///// Effectual begins with a sharp, two-handed snare snap on “WHO WILL STAND?” that summons the aforementioned Questlove and his opening to the Root’s “The Seed (2.0).” The similarity is striking, but Williams’ version is a stoned, hazily recorded drummer-on-his-own practice session that gives way to open space instead of a tight rhythm and blues. It’s remarkable how such a short snippet of sound can leave such an imprint, but it sets the stage for ///// Effectual in an odd and effective way.
What most distinguishes Williams’ tracks is a strangely hypnotic and claustrophobic quality , made more striking by the fuzzy recording quality. The fluid compositions sometimes evoke classic solo performances like Max Roach’s “The Drum Also Waltzes” or Tony Williams’ “Echo” stretched out and explored. “Selectric,” with its thudding, dystopic programmed drums, sounds like 21st-century version of Billy Cobham’s “Anxiety,” while the uncharacteristically tight “[ Selah ]”—featuring extra percussion by producer Carlos Niño—gives “Funky Drummer” a run for its money.
An even better reference point for ///// Effectual might be Antonio Sanchez’s magnificent 2014 soundtrack to the film Birdman. There, drums were similarly arranged around musique concrete samples, conjuring an entrancing, insular world that can simultaneously propel or make crazy anyone who dares listen for too long. The skittering pitter-patter of the hi hat on “Illuminations” mirrors Sanchez’s “Almost Human,” and the slow snare brushes of “wash me over (Pollock’s Pulse)” could just have easily been swapped into Birdman with the subtitle “(Keaton’s pulse).”
Yet despite the success of Williams’ solo performances, the album’s numbers featuring additional instrumentation (from other musicians) are without doubt the album’s most listenable. GB (aka Gifted & Blessed) contributes to three of them, the most compelling of which is “TRUTH REMAINS CONSTANT,” which marries an anxious tom thump and cymbal crash rhythm with an airy Oberheim synthesizer. The result recalls pastoral bedroom IDM like Boards of Canada’s “Everything You Do is a Balloon” or cLOUDDEAD’s “(Cloud Dead Number Five) (1)”. Eventually Williams’ drums disappear and the synths are left to rise, giving the sensation that you’re in a hot air balloon about the disappear into the clouds.
Better still are the album’s deliciously paced two closing moments: “collaborate With God,” featuring French composer and Frank Ocean collaborator Chassol and its subsequent remix by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, provider of strings for Niño and others in the Brainfeeder/Leaving headspace. Of the two, the Chassol-only version is preferable, remaining a Jamire Williams track in feel. The latter, while excellent, is dominated by the Atwood-Ferguson strings and shifts the backdrop to something more like moody spy music.
On ///// Effectual, Williams shows himself to be both an inspired composer and tasteful crafter of sound. He can build whole worlds worth spending time in with nothing but drum hits. But, as the fuller tracks suggest, he might make something even deeper and richer if he allowed even one or two more primary colors into the frame. *///// Effectual *provides a powerful blueprint to build on.
