Brad Mehldau pushes far beyond the acoustic jazz he is known for on 2022's prog rock-inspired
Jacob's Ladder. Even with his past forays into classical and exploratory jazz, the pianist's choice to dip into the kinetic '70s and '80s rock of bands like
Rush (he reworks several of their songs here) is an unexpected and eyebrow-raising move. That said,
Mehldau has explored pop/rock songs in the past, famously applying his deeply introspective and harmonically nuanced style to tracks by
Radiohead,
Nirvana, and other iconic bands. While
Jacob's Ladder continues this iconoclastic trajectory, it is much more than an intriguing covers album, as
Mehldau weaves together several finely curated cover songs with his own ambitious compositions, including two classical-influenced three-part suites. There's also a deeply philosophical bent to the record that's centered around
Mehldau's feelings about God and spirituality. Along the way, he showcases a handful of equally boundary-pushing performers including vocalist
Becca Stevens, saxophonist
Joel Frahm, and singer/mandolinist
Chris Thile, the latter of whom joins
Mehldau for a particularly faithful rendition of
Rush's "Tom Sawyer." Though piano remains
Mehldau's primary instrument of choice here, he also plays a variety of analog synths, including Moogs, Korgs, and other sundry electric instruments. Of his original songs on the album, "Herr und Knecht" is perhaps the most prog-sounding, built around a heavy bass-and-drum groove in an odd time signature that
Mehldau accents with fuzzy, laser-tone synths. More atmospheric is "Vou correndo te encontrar/Racecar," a melodic, Brazilian-inflected reworking of
Periphery's "Racecar" that magically straddles the line between the languid '70s work of
Caetano Veloso and the shimmering style of
Yes. ~ Matt Collar
