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Led Bib — Hotel Pupik
(Cuneiform Rune 541, 2025, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2025-09-22

Hotel Pupik Cover art

Hotel Pupik continues the changes in Led Bib that we saw on It’s Morning. The group is now a quartet, with the dual-saxophone front line of Pete Grogan and Chris Williams that has defined them since the beginning fronting just bass (Liran Donin) and drums (Mark Holub). With the departure of keyboards, the arrangements are a bit less dense, and they continue the focus on sparser and more atmospheric sounds, with sections of frenetic activity less frequent. To a certain extent, this is moving further away from the sax-forward energy that originally endeared the band to me, but their imagination and unique sensibilities carry on, and I’m willing to make the adjustment. Holub’s dominance as the chief composer is waning as the others come into their own: of the seven tracks on Hotel Pupik, only three are Holub’s work, with two credited to Donin, one to Williams, and the other a group effort. The title track is the longest at over 12 minutes, and it’s an interesting combination of free and composed music. There are clearly some themes they refer to and revisit, but the bass and drums never play anything regular. The drums only vaguely establish a tempo, and the bass sits on what is essentially a single note played in erratic rhythms. The saxophones venture here and there with wild tonal shifts and sounds, touching on snippets that sound like prepared melodies but may be entirely spontaneous. The opening track, “Iron Ore,” and the closer, “Till Next Time,” are the most composed of the set. Hotel Pupik may not be as immediately appealing as some of Led Bib’s earlier releases, but it shows a band full of interesting ideas willing to break out of their own box.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Led Bib

More info
http://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hotel-pupik-3

 

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