A funny thing happens about two-thirds of the way through “Mistral,” the gospel-tinged fourth track on Fuubutsushi’s new album Columbia Deluxe (July 11): Someone yells “Woo!” The eruption of hoots and hollers on a live album shouldn’t be unusual, even if the deeply chill energy of the chamber jazz quartet usually evokes contemplation instead of rowdy celebration. Columbia Deluxe isn’t just a live album, however—it not only captures the first and only Fuubutsushi concert, it also marks the only time on record that the group has played in the same room with each other, let alone in front of other people.
Fuubutsushi started as a pandemic project, with each member—Chris Jusell (violin), Chaz Prymek (guitar), Matthew Sage (piano/synths), and Patrick Shiroishi (saxophone)—contributing remotely from their respective locations, ranging from the West Coast to the South and Midwest. Their first four albums emerged with the intensity characteristic of the lockdown era, appearing every few months from late 2020 through the summer of 2021, each one dealing with a single season. (The Japanese word “fuubutsushi” roughly means a longing for a particular time of year.) Last year’s double LP Meridians expanded the project beyond its initial concept, and Columbia Deluxe, out July 11 on the American Dreams label, continues the transformation from COVID endeavor to actual ensemble.
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The occasion of the band’s debut performance was an experimental music festival in the smallish Missouri college town of Columbia (also the setting for another unlikely live album, from the reunited Big Star in 1993) once Prymek’s home base (he’s since moved to Utah). The sound in the venue—a church—is crisp and clear, with a hint of solemn resonance in the room that befits the occasion and Fuubutsushi’s languid, evocative vibe.
The album consists of six songs, one from each prior album, with “Loop Trail,” from the 2022 EP Birthingbodies rounding out the set. The band shakes up some compositions, such as opener “Bolted Orange,” the first track on the band’s first album, which more than triples in length, transforming from an airy scene-setter to an introduction for each player’s distinctive voice. “Loop Trail” loses all but its fluttery, ascending guitar line, which now accompanies a field recording. Other tracks hew fairly close to their album counterparts, but with subtle changes in focus and nuance. Both “Mistral” and “Shepherd’s Stroll” lack the percussion of their source material, but receive a harmonic boost that makes up for the decrease in rhythm, with Prymek playing a burly bass line in the latter and Sage’s acoustic piano adding bite to the former.
By the time the band wraps it up with “Light in the Annex,” from Meridians, they’ve proven that their meticulous, spacious instrumental music can loosen up while gaining velocity and density. Half a decade removed from the national emergency that birthed them, Fuubutsushi have moved beyond the cyclic regularity of the seasons and made room for the genuinely spontaneous. When someone whoops again, toward the end of the set, it’s less of a surprise. If the band ever tours, the loud noise of approval will only grow.
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