Weighing in for Pole Vaulting is it's not an album you'd probably expect from a trumpeter, at least not in the classic jazz sense. Trinidad uses the trumpet to lead a mass of electronic warbles along their way as they break down into mostly ambient sounds. On "Static Moons," for instance, Trinidad's trumpet guides the song along until a voiceover gets accented by digital fuzz and buried in a drum beat before breaking down at its midpoint into noise and delay.
A lot of the record follows this course in one way or another. "Yanghwa," is a wholly ambient track, as is "Sleep Evening," only with a distinct layer of creepiness added in. Most of the album has an additional synth layer, and although it typically works well, there are moments of "soundtrack" epicness that border on camp. "Meters" verges on this territory, but thankfully, backs off in time for Trinidad to let the trumpet take over the soundscape. Overall, Trinidad mixes it up, falling more in line with contemporary artists on the Ninja Tune roster than a classic jazz context.
