Ivan The Tolerable Trio: Infinite Peace

Oli Heffernan is one of many lifers across the U.K. experimental landscape that makes music simply because he has to. Tucked away in his recording space, and whether it be ferreting around for sonic remnants of the past or creating new ones, under the Ivan The Tolerable guise, the Middlesborough native has always provided intriguing results.

Last year, in between his usual abundance of annual offering, Heffernan hit the resume button on the Ivan The Tolerable and His Elastic Band variant, drafting in Mike Watt and Jad Fair to recite the poetry of Karen Schoemer during one the project’s finest releases, the Toft House Sessions. In a similar vein, Heffernan returns in 2024, but with the Ivan The Tolerable Trio who bring us Infinite Peace.

On Infinite Peace, Heffernan is joined by saxophonist and fellow gadget wrangler, Ben Hopkinson, and percussionist, Neil Turpin – the latter whom Heffernan joined in the latest incarnation of All Structures Align on the back of their excellent 2023 release, Cut the Engines. In a further connecting of the dots, ASA’s Adam Ineson mixed Infinite Peace, stitching together this sparse, cosmic patchwork of sounds.

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Infinite Peace a double album in every sense. Not just 13 tracks that are dotted with meandering interludes (every cut exceeds four minutes). It’s a protracted jam session that harbours some of Heffernan’s most pleasing results.

Those familiar with the Ivan The Tolerable story may feel that Heffernan has been working up to the sort of endurance test of Infinite Peace. His two releases at the back end of 2023, Ritual in Transfigured Time (Echodelick / Worst Bassist / We Here & Now) and Under the Magnetic Mountain (Library of the Occult) were both similar in feel, but only snapshots of the graceful wanderings on offer here.

Take opening track, Hymnal – a loose percussive jam with Hopkinson’s saxophones drifting in and out like a winter fog. Meanwhile, A Psychic Defence is the kind of track that is distinguishably Ivan The Tolerable but with brand new tricks, as a subtle, eastern influence snakes beneath the mix. It isn’t a world away from the outer-world psych lust of Empty House.

The Sleep Song’s title gives away its vibe, and alongside Titans in the Garden and later with the equally wonderful Peace, these affairs are slow, unwinding serenades that turn dimly lit rooms into bright shiny ones. It’s not forceful, though. It’s the kind of liberal sonics that are welcomed into the room and not doorstepped.

So too with RA II, which sees Heffernan zone in on those less-is-more dynamics that continue to serve him well. Turpin’s movements around the skins and Hopkinson’s saxophones make this one of the defining moments of Infinite Peace.

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There are snapshots of chaos that the Ivan The Tolerable canon sometimes offers. Autodidact IV is a skronk-a-thon. A raga freak-out with new cosmic embellishments that opens Heffernan’s sound world up even more. It’s feel-good, jazz-inspired noise that could be deemed fun for all the family.

It doesn’t last too long, though. Take the finale, Mother Shipton – a dark, narcotic improvisation that stalks and swings in manic ways. If Einstürzende Neubauten ever wanted to dabble in free jazz, then it may just sound something like this. It’s Heffernan keeping us on our toes, which begs the question: what’s next?

Infinite Peace won’t have time to ferment, because (as always) Heffernan is already onto the next thing. That’s how minds like his work, however for those new to the world of Ivan The Tolerable, Infinite Peace is a pretty good place to start.

Infinite Peace is out now via Stolen Body Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.