Howl emerges from a personal turning point in the life of guitarist/composer Juanma Trujillo. Before leaving New York for Spain, Trujillo wanted to capture the vital rapport of his quartet developed over years of performing his inventive compositions. The circumstantial impetus of this record, which documents the camaraderie of Kevin Sun (tenor saxophone), Andrew Schiller (bass), and Matt Honor (drums), marks a departure from the guiding themes of Trujillo’s previous work. Instead of the heavy explorations of ancestry, cinema, and folklore, the emotional and musical theme of this new music on Howl is an exploration of “touch.”

Howl captures the “touch” of four friends and their musical and geographic closeness. But “touch” is also a musical-physical theme, because for the first time Trujillo has restricted himself to an acoustic guitar. While Trujillo’s electric vistas on previous records evoke psychedelic skies and gnarled desert, Howl is a study and expression of the quiet tactility of sound, where physical touch and sonic production are one.

Throughout Howl, I perceive Honor, Sun, and Schiller, experts in improvised listening that they are, responding to the organic craftsmanship of Trujillo’s acoustic guitar. I am reminded that string instrument bodies, drumsticks, and reeds are all made from wood. Trujillo’s delicate mixing and production highlight these timbral comparisons by centering the acoustic guitar within the quartet’s sound, even during moments of great sonic angst found in Catharsis and Howl. Large landscapes carved from a small piece of knotty driftwood.

This album embraces intimacy in different ways to create the sound of touch, including the tactility of the acoustic guitar and the dynamic sensitivity and spontaneous narrative cohesion of the musicians. A priority of musical closeness and friendship is evident in the construction of the album’s compositions. Trujillo says each piece started as a conceived form, with details of melody and harmony added later. Many of these details were composed in generous consultation with the band members, allowing four musical personalities to reach their expressive depths with a complementary naturalism.

I witness the marriage of music and motivation throughout this record, as Trujillo invites me to experience the objects he and his quartet have handcrafted. On Rojo, a length of red fabric covered in precise geometric patterns of unequal length. Bass, guitar, and saxophone assemble a gentle composite melody on Regular, sitting atop a bed of hushed wind and shuddering leaves emanating from Honor’s drums and cymbals.

Through technique and compassion, Trujillo and his band have handcrafted a sonic object of personal beauty meant for a special place on the mantel. When I listen to this music, it is seemingly created just for me. When you listen, you will feel the same, knowing the complex touch of sounds, stories, old movies and records, and friendship.

- Ethan Helm