Review: Jason Moran, BlankFor.ms and Marcus Gilmore’s ‘Shards’

Shards (Red Hook, 2026) is the follow-up to Refract (Red Hook, 2023) by the trio of pianist Jason Moran, electronic musician BlankFor.ms (Tyler Gilmore), and drummer Marcus Gilmore. The predecessor was so novel, rather complex, and totally stunning. Shards finds the trio more at ease, in a comfort zone that makes the overall result more accessible. Where the first album put electronics to the forefront, the second places the piano in a more prominent role. The more subtle electronics gives the album a far more melodic center and a feeling as if if Moran and Gilmore are acting as a duo with the masterful BlankFor.ms feeding them microfragments of time sped up, slowed down, reversed, and dispersed into even smaller grains of sound.  As with Refract, Shards is a largely spontaneous improvisational work that blurs acoustic and electronic in inventive ways.  There are composed elements and prepared loops as the trio centers on fragmentation and reconstruction.

Where Refract bent the sound as a prism does to light, Shards puts the broken pieces of a mirror back together with memories echoing repeatedly in different tempos and different orders. In the album’s liner notes, Ted Reichman likens the sound to a sculptural mosaic.“…we hear that process of hardening,  fracturing, and rebuilding happening live, up close, with every splinter of time brought to the surface of our ears’ perception. In Shards, these three artists make music of intimate expansiveness out of embodied histories, time, and technology.” The trio receives echoes of their immediate past, or even further back in time. The collaborations result in sonic collages.

Shard‘s core revolves around five “Shard” pieces. The first finds Moran roaming all over the piano to respond to Gilmore’s aggressive beats, with electronic sounds from noisy textures to softer ambience. Motifs repeat. The groove is angular, heavy, and steady. BlankFor.ms’s input become harsher and more agitating midway through.  The overall volume and intensity slacken only to be guilt back before Moran’s right hand brings a lightness and implied optimism toward the end.

“Shard II’ begins mysteriously with Moran playing minimally as lots of space is left between his notes and chords accented by Gilmore’s cymbal sweeps. BlankFor.ms underpins it with a rather unobtrusive, droning bed. “Shard III” mostly features Gilmore’s varied use of kit and percussive instruments, while electronics take on an industrial quality. Again, Gilmore chooses his bell-like chords judiciously with plenty of space in between.  “Shard IV” revolves around Moran’s dense, often dark chords. BlankFor.ms delivers wave-like surges of electronics before the direction shifts to start-stop rhythms and freewheeling, barely controlled shattering chaos among the trio. The surprisingly beautiful final “Shard” begins with fuzzy repetitive loops before Moran enters with stately though well-spaced chords. More than any of the preceding pieces, the tone reflects as if inspecting the broken mirror pieces to learn what each might reveal.

The album also contains three non-Shard pieces, “Tape Loop A Echo,”  “Barbershop,” and “And the Pieces are Falling Apart” Each provide some of the most experimental moments on the album. The first leans more toward electronics, dynamic drumming, and syncopated dense piano chords. “Barbershop” finds Moran playing both inside and outside the piano, setting a Latin-like rhythm that dissipates and resumes once the electronics assume prominence. “And the Pieces are Falling Apart” is generally calm. Moran hits a series of high notes and scales while the electronics are mostly atmospheric. Gilmore seems almost absent.

Throughout, the Red Hook production team, partly descended from the magic for which ECM Records has become renown, delivers high-quality production values. While Shards won’t appeal to the masses, it is a fascinating listen that navigates the spherers of acoustic and electronic in fascinating ways. Close your eyes and get lost in this adventurous hour of music.

 ‘Shards’ will be released on Red Hook Records on May 8, 2026. It can be purchased on Bandcamp.