Breakway

Paul Giallorenzo - electronics, piano
Marc Riordan - drums
Brian Labycz - modular synth

Breakway is an electro-acoustic free improvisation trio. A motley grouping of viewpoints that molds from the conflicts of interest and moments of contemplative unity. The key word here is 'trio' and the interplay that results.

Reviews

from The Sound Projector:
"Hot Choice is a snappy 30-minute CDR with seven examples of their very dynamic and enthused improvised music. They play well and have a very distinctive group sound; they suggest that it makes sense to hear them as “a kind of percussion trio” and draw attention to the range of timbres produced by the unusual instrumentation and the interactions between the threesome. This notion indeed makes a lot of sense when faced with the stuttering and near-incoherent fluttervies and spit-spat gruntamaloons that squeeze themselves out of Labycz’s synth; a simplistic noise band they are not, and it’s clearly agreed within the trio from the outset that no-one must set their electrical equipment in such ways as to produce a deafening roar or a lazy drone. Instead, shards and fragments of electronic clutter fly out, colliding with snare drums and cymbals. Cecil Taylor was another who famously insisted his piano was a percussion instrument and treated it as “88 tuned drums”, although this isn’t to suggest any similarities between Taylor and Giallorenzo’s work. He too has gagged and muffled his instrument’s natural tendencies, especially on ‘Elementionary’, where he sounds like a bondage-freak’s version of Cage’s prepared piano. Hot Choice feels rough, unfinished and uncertain in places, but that’s all good to me as it suggests Breakway are still finding their way into this exciting and experimental trio approach, and haven’t yet settled into a comfortable groove. In short I like the direction they’re heading in and look forward to hearing more." - Ed Pinsent

from Vital Weekly:
"The first time I heard Breakway, a trio of Paul Giallorenzo (synthesizer/piano), Brian Labycz (electronics) and Marc Riordan (percussion) was through their CDR on the Friends & Relatives label (see Vital Weekly 710), and I gathered they were matured improvisers, knowing what they were doing and thus producing a great release. 'Hot Choice' contains ten new pieces recorded in 2010 and throughout these pieces are short - the total length of the release is thirty minutes. Despite the use of a modular synth, moog and piano, one could easily say that Breakway is a group dealing with percussive music: everybody and everything is used to generate percussive sounds. Sometimes they are loud and fiercely played, but also contemplative and silent. Very wild, very abstract: a lively release once again." - Franz De Waard

from the Chicago Reader:
"...in the trio Breakway, Giallorenzo focuses on purely improvised abstraction, processing his piano with contact mikes and electronics or abandoning it entirely in favor of an analog synth. The music on 'get down' (Friends and Relatives) is sometimes hectic, sometimes slow and considered, but even the most spacious passages consist largely of tense, frenetic gestures. Drummer Marc Riordan scrabbles and scrapes at his kit, creating a blur of cymbal patter, stuttering beats, and texture-based racket. Giallorenzo and electronicist Brian Labycz create swells and bursts of processed tones—snaking, skittering lines, supernovas of white noise, bulbous bloops and high-frequency bleeps—that not only blend and contrast thoughtfully with each other but also dance atop riordan's playing with clear logic and easy grace..." -- Peter Margasak

from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
"Breakway is [Giallorenzo's] electroacoustic free-improv trio, presented in a refined, european avant style (think Keith Rowe or Thomas Lehn). The closest this gets to jazz is the clattery percussion of Marc Riordan -- otherwise, the resulting scrapings, tumblings and clankings are much closer to the sound-art tradition going back to the '60s when David Tudor and Gordon Mumma first seized upon filters and ring modulators .... whether it's Labycz spinning out waves of gentle static and Subotnick-esque electronic tones, Riordan making his cymbals creak and whine, or Giallorenzo playing simple octaves on the piano, there's a determination to this work that's compelling, and by the conclusion of the almost zen-like "outtheotherside," you'd be hard-pressed to demean any of it as mere debris." -- Manny Theiner

from Foxy Digitalis:
"Breakway is the trio of Paul Giallorenzo, Brian Labycz, and Mark Riordan. on “get down” an electronics/synthesizer/percussion record they keep things snappy, peppy and even poppy. Recorded live at Elastic (my personal favorite venue in Chicago, perhaps, actually, of everywhere I've been), the trio slams on and hinges together. I've seen lots of shows at Elastic where I was just waiting for the end, where the improvisers keep improvising for far too long, but this disc clearly wasn’t recorded on one of those nights. There’s tempo and timbre changes galore, drones and squeaks, small sound and loud sounds. This record doesn’t take much patience to get into, but it’s a patient record, with the improvisers obviously listening, and listening well, to each other. The sounds are abstract, obscure, but pleasant and it seems the group is now launching a tour. Go see them!" -- Shannon Smith

from Vital Weekly:
"back to improvisation music with Breakway, a trio of Paul Giallorenzo (synthesizer/piano), Brian Labycz (electronics) and Marc Riordan (percussion). They are from Chicago and recorded their music on multi-track and then mixed it down. This is by far the most interesting release of this lot. These guys know how to play an improvisation that has intensity as well as being able to listen to what the others are doing and how interact on what the other players are doing. Its a most odd combination, so much electronics playing abstract sounds while the drummer uses his kit in a rather traditional manner. It makes some intense playing with some beautiful pieces going on here. I gather these are matured improvisers, who are not out there producing a random set of sounds on some instruments. great." - Franz DeWaard