I’m often exhausted as midnight draws near on Thursdays. Weariness sometimes primes me for a sublime experience. When circumstances and the release schedule of ECM Records allow the luxury, I lie in bed with headphones and surrender to a new album by the famed German kompanie. Vermillion, a gorgeous recording featuring Kit Downes (piano), Petter Eldh (bass) and James Meddren (drums), serenaded me last week. I found myself concentrating on a cymbal placed in a remote corner of the sonic expanse as I nodded off. The distinctive ECM sound is among my favorite natural intoxicants.
