Big Space wants you to Check Upstairs

Canadian instrumental trio Big Space return with their second studio album, building on the jazz/rock hybrid sound of their debut. “The Pendulum Effect” moves between heavy jazz fusion, lyrical ballads, and immersive soundscapes, bridging modern jazz and instrumental post-rock in the trio’s distinctive style.

Live-tracked without overdubs, the album captures authentic group performances by guitarist Grant King, bassist Ian Murphy, and drummer Ashley Chalmers. Mixed by Brett Bullion (The Bad Plus, Low) and mastered by Nate Wood (Kneebody, Tigran Hamasyan). For fans of genre-blending fusion, jazz-inflected post-rock and progressive instrumental music.

‘Check Upstairs’ opens our new album The Pendulum Effect and sets the stage for the record, combining riff-based grooves, melodic playing, improvisation, and more atmospheric sections, drawing from both jazz and rock.

The song was written from a melodic guitar idea that came out of a jam between our guitarist Grant King and drummer Ashley Chalmers. Grant was experimenting with a freeze pedal, and the main melody developed as they improvised over a drone. The verse groove came later in a full-band session with bassist Ian Murphy, and the arrangement came together collectively.

The main groove shifts between 3/4 and 4/4, which evolved naturally through jamming until the tune felt right. The group stays locked into the groove through the intro and verse, with the guitar taking the rhythm into more developed chordal ideas, before the chorus opens up around the lead melody. A middle section opens into collective improvisation, building from an improvised guitar melody to a more aggressive solo and darker, atmospheric passages. Like the rest of the album, it was recorded live in the studio without overdubs to capture the dynamic interaction of the band.