3 X A Woman: The Misplaced Files

What do you get when you take three of Brooklyn’s heaviest hitting composer improviser crazy brilliant musicians, and throw them together in a band with songs and singing, wild back-beats and a horn section? Why, People, of course. The members of People (Mary Halvorson, Kevin Shea, Kyle Forester) are plenty famous for their separate accomplishments, but believe us, nothing else in the world sounds like this. Sure, you could say it’s like a free jazz rock band with syrupy sweet classic melodies, but that’s not quite it — this band has control in the midst of its monstrous rumble. Is the spirit of Robert Wyatt speaking through Melt Banana’s mystic radio? We don’t quite know, but we do know it’s brilliant stuff, that doesn’t happen every day. In fact this album, their third, almost didn’t make it here at all, after a series of label closings in the Great Drought of the late oughts. Hence we call it: The Misplaced Files. Added perks — the record features horn arrangements from the ever-brilliant Peter Evans, played along with Sam Kulik and Dan Peck. If adventurous music is the name of your game, you owe it to yourself to hear it played by People.