"A band whose name is Tricky Dilemma clearly has amongst its membership at least one word nerd; it takes one to know one and being a person who cares about words and names to a fault, I was thrilled when Bruce Mack told me that Tricky Dilemma was the name of the trio he had formed with guitarist/bouzouki man Marvin Sewell and Val-Inc on turntables, synthesizer and percussion. The name alone made me want to catch one of the the group's rare live appearances in New York and the experience was unforgettable, living up to what I thought was a great band name.
The new CD from Tricky Dilemma is entitled John P. Parker Viewed from 9 Dimensions, which told me before I even removed the shrink-wrap from the beautifully illustrated blue cover, featuring river imagery created by vanOs, that this album would tell a story; the ninth track of the album, is in fact called Storyteller's Reflections. However, the story here is told for the most part wordlessly, relying entirely on the lush soundscapes created by the three, which are so seamlessly blended it would be a shame to dissect them. The music is dense and unto itself, embellished only occasionally with the comfort-zone of a blues guitar pattern and ultimately in "Tone Poem - Rivers Known and Unknown" where lyrics are introduced .... "The path is clear now, no more slippin' and slidin' ..." and sung upliftingly by Bruce Mack (who also plays synthesizers, UDU and other percussion) on a backdrop of refrains of "Word Up" from the turntable and eerie guitar sounds. If John P Parker Viewed From 9 Dimensions is a Journey, this track is the destination.
The preceding nine tracks are highly evocative. For the listener who is not familiar with the story of the man John P. Parker, the music seems to me to contain sub-conscious triggers. Having listened to this album mostly last thing at night before falling asleep or with my morning coffee before entering into any kind of dialogue with the world, it is my subconscious to which this soundscape most obviously appeals; the music feels to me as if it CAME from the collective subconscious of these musicians. Ethereal but laden with attention grabbing hooks, at once unfamiliar but totally making "sense", these organic seeming compositions stretch the exercise of listening to music deliciously in every direction, giving a feeling of expansiveness. Imagining the response of a listener with no knowledge of who this man John P Parker is or was, I cannot help but think that the music would be deeply stirring and that on a subconscious level, a story would be conveyed, an extraordinary story containing elements of tension, relief, movement, struggles and triumphs.
Having heard of John P Parker perhaps only as an inventor, inspired by the release of this album I took advantage of having the internet in my lap and researched to learn a little of his life, discovering that this man born into slavery and sold away from his mother at the age of eight relentlessly sought freedom, which he BOUGHT for himself after 18 years during which he learned to read and write and served an apprenticeship as an iron worker in a foundry, where he learned the skills to be able to work and save the $1,800 he paid to release himself. His newfound freedom took him north where he worked in foundries, while secretly cultivating a career as a conductor on the Underground Railroad and playing a part in the emancipation of more than 1,000 slaves. Meanwhile as a business man he went on to open a general store and later started his own foundry in Ripley, Ohio, which grew to employ 25 men. In yet another development in this incredible life, John Parker became a recruiter for the 27th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops. Later in his life he obtained patents for various industrial innovations which he masterminded in his workshop, including a "screw for tobacco presses" and a soil pulverizer. During all of his years of freedom, he found time to be a husband and father of six.
Given these general insights into the life of the man, the music recorded here by Tricky Dilemma of course becomes more meaningful; the cries of indignation, the current of the river, the suspense of pursuit and the movement of the trains can all be found throughout the record. The second track, Multidimensionality, contains all of these aural images and the driving beat conveys the urgency which seems to have been a constant theme of John Parker's life. It seems that his life was devoted to finding solutions and resolutions to all the drastic dilemmas thrown at him since the time he was born, and the creativity with which he found these solutions is inspiring; that creativity is reflected perfectly in this record by Tricky Dilemma. I'm sure John Parker would have appreciated the acknowledgment. "
