This Is Our Jam: Canyons, “Circadia / Under a Blue Sky”

The saxophone is a versatile instrument, to say the least. On one end of the spectrum you have Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, who helped define modern jazz - at the other, there’s Wham!. 2011’s somewhat-unasked for resurgence of the saxophone has tended toward a “Careless Whisper” style of yacht-rock, with Destroyer, Bon Iver, and M83 using the sax as an instant ticket to nostalgia-ville. While these musicians obviously have a real love for the instrument, none have come close to embracing the sax with the full-bore intensity of Australian duo Canyons. “Circadia / Under a Blue Sky” is eight minutes of bongo-laden psych-house, with saxophone noodling that approaches the frenetic intensity of Bill Pullman’s Lost Highway free-jazz freak-out. Along the way are elephant noises, French spoken word samples, and a bouncy melody that recalls the Talking Heads. Of course, most people won’t notice any of this: The saxophone is the star here, but the trick isn’t getting past the sax—it’s embracing it.