Jeremiah Chiu's 'Edge Conditions' Is a Joyous Masterpiece of Modular Architecture
The Sonic Breakdown
“In architecture, ‘edge conditions’ are the boundaries, interfaces, or transition zones between two different areas, materials, or states,” International Anthem’s notes explain. Chiu took the phrase literally: the record “felt like a practice bound by (environmental) restrictions, or boundaries.” Eleven tracks, roughly forty-two minutes, and a guest list — Patrick Shiroishi, Marta Sofia Honer, Marquis Hill, Takako Minekawa, Ben Lumsdaine, Booker Stardrum, Will Miller — deployed with real precision rather than sprayed across the album.
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: Chiu mixed with Dave Vettraino and mastered with David Allen, and the low end is the record’s load-bearing wall. On “Plastic Mind / Elastic Machines,” the label’s own description is unimprovable: Chiu’s “modular chatter sits on top of Stardrum’s deeply saturated low-end percussive bump, augmented by only phrases of tonality amongst the satisfying chaos of pings, clangs, and shimmers.”
The Spatial Dynamics: UK Jazz News’ Liam Noble heard the craft in the percussion layering on “A.M. Fuses,” which “layers real drums with a kind of softened industrial percussive track like metal girders hit with rubber cutlery, and the improvised and manipulated rhythm sit beautifully together.” Field recordings from Shiroishi and Minekawa keep opening windows in the mix.
Standout Performance
Booker Stardrum, Chiu’s SML bandmate, on drums across three tracks. “Plastic Mind / Elastic Machines” was, by Chiu’s account, “truly the guiding beacon for the entire record” — and it’s Stardrum’s beat dropping in behind Minekawa’s voice that turns a sketch into the album’s thesis.
Why It’s Certified
Noble, writing for UK Jazz News, catches Chiu’s refusal to take the easy exit: the album “flirts both with that airborne café ambience of coffee houses and with dance music for the over 20s, but Chiu simply can’t, and doesn’t, let himself go there: that would be too easy.” AllMusic’s Paul Simpson is blunter — “The entire album is fresh, vivid, and exciting, as Chiu takes his work in a more exuberant, joyous direction.” Note for the streaming-only crowd: the full album doesn’t land on Spotify until 27 October. Bandcamp has it now.