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Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee

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Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee
Studio album by
Matana Roberts
ReleasedFebruary 2, 2015 (2015-02-02)
RecordedJune 3–5, 2014[1]
StudioHotel2Tango (Montreal, Canada)
Genre
Length45:35
LabelConstellation
Matana Roberts chronology
Feldspar
(2014) 		Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee
(2015) 		Always
(2015)

Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee (shortened as River Run Thee; stylized as COIN COIN Chapter Three: river run thee) is the seventh solo studio album by American jazz musician Matana Roberts. It was released via Constellation on February 2, 2015.[2] The album is the third installment in the proposed 12-part Coin Coin album series,[3][4] in which it was preceded by Mississippi Moonchile (2013) and followed by Memphis (2019). The series, named after Marie Thérèse Coincoin, is an exploration of African-American history, the Civil rights movement, the roots of American slavery, Roberts' familial ancestry, and more.

River Run Thee's instrumentation was performed by only Roberts. The album was recorded in Hotel2Tango in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. While Roberts mostly uses her voice and saxophone on the album, she also uses elements of spoken word, field recordings, drones, and effects pedals. River Run Thee includes various samples and quotations, including ones from a 1965 Malcolm X lecture, a homeless woman in Jackson, Mississippi, and "The Star-Spangled Banner".

River Run Thee received positive reviews from multiple publications, including Rolling Stone, Tiny Mix Tapes, Pitchfork, and AllMusic, and received mixed reviews from others, including Exclaim!. The album was ranked at number six on Pitchfork's list of "The Best Experimental Albums of 2015" and at number 15 on Rolling Stone's list of the "20 Best Avant Albums of 2015".

Background

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River Run Thee is the third chapter of Coin Coin, Matana Roberts' planned 12-part series,[4] which began with Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de Couleur Libres in 2011.[5] The series is an exploration of American history and African-American history.[5][6] It also documents Roberts' research into her familial ancestry, her sexuality, and her travel.[7][5][8] Grayson Currin of Pitchfork wrote Coin Coin "seemed an audacious undertaking, an epic that would either put Roberts in rarified visionary company or find her struggling near anonymity".[9]

Coin Coin touches on various topics in American and African-American history, including the roots of American slavery, the Reconstruction era, myth in the American Afrodiaspora, the Civil rights movement, and the current state of racism in the United States.[9][8] The series' name was derived from Marie Thérèse Coincoin.[10] The surname was also used as a nickname for Roberts by her parents.[10] As of 2022, Roberts has released 4 chapters of Coin Coin. River Run Thee was preceded by Mississippi Moonchile (2013) and followed by Memphis (2019), the second and fourth chapters respectively.

Recording and composition

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A room in Hotel2Tango, where the album was recorded

In comparison to previous installments in the series, River Run Thee's instrumentation was performed by only Roberts.[11][12] It was described as the "most vast" of the series by Jake Cole of Spectrum Culture, and the "most layered and multifaceted" of the series by Jazz Scott of Tiny Mix Tapes .[13][14] The album was recorded in Hotel2Tango in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and recorded and mixed by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh.[2][15] The album mostly uses voice and saxophone.[2] According to Joseph Burnett of The Quietus, "without a band to work with, Roberts turns to electronics to bolster her singing and saxophone".[4]

River Run Thee is an electroacoustic,[7][13] drone,[16] and free jazz[16] album which contains elements of tape collage, spoken word, field recordings, drones, and effects pedals.[7][4][11][17] The album includes: samples from a 1965 Malcolm X lecture, entitled "Confronting White Oppression"; readings from works by Captain G.L. Sullivan; and American nationalist and traditional songs, for example, "The Star-Spangled Banner".[2][10] Roberts also used a recording of Gertrude, a homeless woman, from 2014.[10]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
ConsequenceB[18]
Exclaim!6/10[7]
No Ripcord6/10[17]
Pitchfork8.2/10[9]
Spectrum Culture[14]
Spin8/10[19]
TheNeedleDrop6/10[20]
Tiny Mix Tapes[13]

On Pitchfork's list of "The Best Experimental Albums of 2015," by Marc Masters and Grayson Currin, River Run Thee placed sixth.[21] Currin described the album as a "seamless collision of both her and the nation's past and present".[21] Similarly, on a list of the "20 Best Avant Albums of 2015" by Christopher Weingarten of Rolling Stone, River Run Thee ranked fifteenth.[11] Weingarten described the album as "a more austere outing composed on loop and effects pedals, Roberts culls dazzling swarms for voice, drone and her own impassioned alto sax solos".[11]

Joseph Burnett of The Quietus called the album "harrowing", and praised Roberts for her vivid imagery and mournful singing.[4] Burnett described it as a "broiling, uncompromising work that rips down genre barriers altogether".[4] In a positive review, Currin wrote, "it's now clear that Roberts isn't just a storyteller, musician, ethnographer, historian, bandleader, arranger, improviser, or activist. She plays all of those roles".[9] Nick Storring of Musicworks called it brilliant, and found its listening experience to be "utterly overwhelming".[2]

Jazz Scott of Tiny Mix Tapes called the album "infinite and indispensable in its cultural worth and true-ly [sic] timeless and comprehensive in its scope".[13] Lior Phillips of NPR praised the album for its cohesiveness and its historical roots, and used metaphors to describe it, including calling it a "forest", "womb", and "quilt".[16] Phillips also wrote, "Roberts immerses herself and the listener in a history of anguish, and channels it all into a magnetic unity, a postmodern opus."[16] Colin Joyce of Spin gave the album 8 out of 10 points and wrote, "free jazz has never been quite so free".[19] Adam Kivel of Consequence said the album was the most personal so far of the series.[18] Kivel also wrote, "[the album] is the most challenging entry in her massive undertaking, but a truth like this shouldn't be easy".[18]

Anthony Fantano of TheNeedleDrop called the album a "stand-out record that boldly experimented," but criticized it for its "cold reading of historic documents," since this lacked the emotion of the previous installments in the series.[20] Nilan Perera of Exclaim! enjoyed the denseness of the instrumental layers, but found that the unchanging soundscape made it harder to hear the words, "which seem to reveal little".[7] Joseph Moore of No Ripcord related the album to the modern state of racism against Black Americans.[17] Moore found the album an "exhausting" listen which listeners would find hard to finish.[17]

Track listing and credits

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Track listing

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No.TitleLength
1."All is Written"10:05
2."The Good Book Says"2:39
3."Clothed to the Land, Worn by the Sea"3:24
4."Dreamer of Dreams"4:32
5."Always Say Your Name"1:52
6."Nema, Nema, Nema"4:19
7."A Single Man O' War"2:05
8."As Years Roll By"4:05
9."This Land Is Yours"3:44
10."Come Away"5:25
11."With Me Seek"0:57
12."J.P."2:23
Total length:45:35

Personnel

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Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, who recorded and mixed the album, performing in 2017

Adapted from the album's listing on Constellation's website and liner notes.[1][15]

Samples

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Sheet music for "The Star-Spangled Banner", which was sampled on the album.

List of samples, adapted from the album's listing on Constellation's website and liner notes.[1][15]

Audio samples

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Quotations

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Release history

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Release dates and formats for Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee[22]
Region Date Format Label Catalog num.
Canada February 2, 2015 LP Constellation CST110LP
Canada February 2, 2015 CD Constellation CST110CD

References

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  1. ^ a b c Roberts, Matana (2015). Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee (Media notes). Constellation. CST110.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Matana Roberts. Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee.". Musicworks. Spring 2015. Archived from the original on June 21, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  3. ^ "Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Three: river run thee – exclusive album stream". The Guardian. January 19, 2015. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Burnett, Joseph (February 4, 2015). "Reviews: Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee". The Quietus. Archived from the original on July 7, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Longley, Martin (2011). "Review of Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens De Couleur Libres". BBC. Archived from the original on July 7, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  6. ^ Welsh, Evan (October 22, 2019). "Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis". Spectrum Culture. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e Perera, Nilan (January 30, 2015). "Matana Roberts Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on July 7, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Lewis, George E. (July 3, 2020). "Lifting the Cone of Silence from Black Composers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d Currin, Grayson Haver (February 5, 2015). "COIN COIN Chapter Three: river run thee". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Jurek, Thom. "Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee - Matana Roberts". AllMusic. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d Weingarten, Christopher R. (December 29, 2015). "20 Best Avant Albums of 2015". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 19, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  12. ^ Jurek, Thom. "Matana Roberts Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis". AllMusic. Archived from the original on November 7, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  13. ^ a b c d Scott, Jazz. "Matana Roberts - COIN COIN Chapter Three: river run thee". Tiny Mix Tapes. Archived from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  14. ^ a b Cole, Jake (February 19, 2015). "Matana Roberts: COIN COIN Chapter Three: river run thee - Review". Spectrum Culture. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  15. ^ a b c "COIN COIN Chapter Three: river run thee". Constellation. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  16. ^ a b c d Phillips, Lior (September 18, 2017). "Matana Roberts' Sublime and Triumphant River Run Thee". NPR. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  17. ^ a b c d Moore, Joseph (February 16, 2015). "Coin Coin Chapter 3: River Run Thee". No Ripcord. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  18. ^ a b c Kivel, Adam (January 27, 2015). "Album Review: Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Three: river run thee". Consequence. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  19. ^ a b Spin staff (September 18, 2015). "Spin Overlooked Albums Report: Tenement's Sprawling Half-Time Punk, Matana Roberts' Free Sax Collages". Spin. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
  20. ^ a b Fantano, Anthony (February 5, 2015). Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter 3: River Run Thee Album Review. TheNeedleDrop. YouTube. Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  21. ^ a b Masters, Marc; Currin, Grayson Haver (December 23, 2015). "The Best Experimental Albums of 2015". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  22. ^ "Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee - Releases". AllMusic. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
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