Desertion Trio - Numbers Maker (April 23, 2021 Cuneiform Records)

From the first notes of Numbers Maker, the third album by Desertion Trio, it is clear that the band is leaning into a new direction. While the band has always been a three-piece, Desertion Trio have brought along friends on their previous records — making Numbers Maker their first true trio release and giving the album a distilled and darker edge that hits a little differently.

Although Desertion Trio is following a new musical path, the sound of the band — described by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “exploratory, distorted, and warped” — is still recognizable, using angular riffage, tumbling grooves and a debt to the darker side of Miles Davis’ electric bands, Funkadelic guitar-maestro Eddie Hazel, and oblique fisheye references to 1960s spy and surf guitar themes, while the collective always is shooting for the stars with sprawling and effected tones.

In order to celebrate the spirit of a power trio in its natural state, Desertion Trio recorded Numbers Maker in front of a live audience at New Haven, CT’s Firehouse 12 studio. The result is a detailed studio recording that finds the band all-in with no overdubs and no re-takes, capturing the energy of a great live ensemble.

"[Desertion Trio] hits the sweet spot between Neil Young's exploratory Crazy Horse jams and a spaghetti western soundtrack." – NPR

"...the band’s tunefulness and delicate touch—even during its most punishing passages—have a universal profundity that I’ve been unable to resist." – Chicago Reader

1. Albion

2. Powers

3. Buist

4. Taboo

5. Numbers Maker

Nick Millevoi – guitar

Johnny DeBlase – bass

Jason Nazary – drums

Recorded live at Firehouse 12 on October 18, 2019 by Greg DiCrosta.

Mixed and mastered at Menegroth by Colin Marston.

All songs by Nick Millevoi, copyright 2020 Circlesperanto ASCAP, except “Taboo” by Margrita Lecuona and Al Stillman.

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Nick Millevoi's Desertion Trio w/ Jamie Saft - Midtown Tilt (SHHPUMA 2018)

Guitarist Nick Millevoi’s (Chris Forsyth and the Solar Motel Band, John Zorn’s Bagatelles) Desertion project has created its second opus, Midtown Tilt. Now using the title Desertion Trio, the band features Johnny DeBlase (Many Arms, Sabbath Assembly) on bass, and Kevin Shea (Mostly Other People Do The Killing, Talibam!) at the drumkit, and follows 2016’s Desertion by also featuring guest Jamie Saft (Electric Masada, The New Standard Trio with and without Iggy Pop) on the organ. Vibraphonist and percussionist Ashley Tini joins on three tracks. Much like Desertion, the formula for Midtown Tilt continues to follow an instrumental country-folkrock mix with elements from jazz, as we would expect from these musicians.

The musicians improvise as if their lives depend on it, but also evoke an imagery that takes listeners through the history of instrumental electric guitar music. Inspired by the town of Wildwood, NJ and the anachronistic clash of re-imagined cultures seen in its motels and amusements, Midtown Tilt is an amalgamation of jazz, psychedelic blues, surf music, and country rock instrumentals, often reminding us of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse scoring a western. Through Saft’s organ, something else is added: traces of the rhythm and blues played by Booker T. & The M.G.’s and of the blues-rock of bands like The Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith. The mix is explosive.

1. Midtown Tilt

2. It’s a Hard World for Little Things

3. Numbers Maker

4. Jai Alai Noon

5. The Myna Bird

6. The Carideon

7. Fascination Fadeaway

Nick Millevoi . guitar

Johnny DeBlase . electric bass

Kevin Shea . drums

Jamie Shaft . organ

Ashley Tini . vibes on 3, 5, shakers on 4