Fugitive Equation by Nathaniel Mackey and The Creaking Breeze Ensemble

Nathaniel Mackey is a hugely influential American poet, novelist, anthologist, literary critic and editor. He is the Reynolds Price Professor of Creative Writing at Duke University and a Chancellor of Academy of American Poets. His on-going series of epistolary novels (begun 1978) From A Broken Bottle Traces of Perfume Still Emanate narrate the music making, dreams and creative life a group of imaginary jazz-based musicians making a fictional music, at the edge of words, dream and physical possibility in late 1970s and 1980s Los Angeles.

The idea for the Creaking Breeze Ensemble emerged in 2016 in response to a reading of Mackey's books by a group of musicians, writers and artists closely connected to the creative community around Cafe OTO in East London: Billy Steiger, Evie Ward, Paul Abbott, Ute Kanngiesser and Seymour Wright. Each have their own distinct voice, and respective connection with the musical traditions at the core of From A Broken Bottle. As a group of artists they felt that what Mackey explored as the making of a fictional music articulated something close to their actual, respective and overlapping musical lives. The group was named and so doing established a space for them to undertake an on-going 'reading' of the novels. And led in turn to them inviting Mackey to come to London to work, somehow, on this 'reading' of the novels and their ideas.

Mackey agreed and this mysterious proposal was realised in June 2019. Together Mackey and the ‘Breeze developed a working method and honed their attention on close reading of two letters from the books. What emerged was an open mobile process moving through the letters (and their content) in ways that shaped rich, sensual and playful spaces for reflection and improvisation, iteration and inter-textual pleasures.

The result is Fugitive Equation a remarkable and beautiful long-song across two nights. The first night Lit by Eclipse takes as its point of departure, reads and develops a letter from book five, Late Arcade; the second night Skeletal Water, X-Ray Water takes as its point of departure, reads and develops a letter from book two Djbot Baghostus's Run.

The album is a complex, unique and long-form (2 hours plus) composition of sound and word, unlike the previous work of any of those involved. The six unique voices, drums, violin, cello and saxophone and Mackey and Wards' words. It is a work that continuously collapses, questions and flips many poles - word/sound, voice/music, vocals(foreground)/band(background), recorded past/improvised present and fact/fiction.

The art work for the album cover is ‘Clutch’, a painting by seminal London based artist Frank Bowling whose retrospective was on show at the Tate Britain during Mackey’s visit to London.

The project was supported by the Arts Council of England and Cafe Oto.