By By Madeline Kerins
By the looks of the cover of Suspicious Activity, The Bad Plus could easily be mistaken for any other hard-edged, angst-ridden, indie rock band. On the other hand, The Bad Plus isn’t really hard-edged or indie rock. They are more jazz with some rock sprinkled on top.
Hearing any record from The Bad Plus can be described as jazz explosion, in a very good way. In that regard, Suspicious Activity is no different than its predecessors Give and These Are the Vistas. The main difference is that on this album there are more original compositions rather than covers. The whole album is tranquil pianos and bass, with wonderful interferences of rock/metal drumming.
Suspicious Activity is best when you can listen to it from beginning to end with no interruptions. Though all of the songs stand very well by themselves, the best listening experience is hearing how one song flows into the next with very little distinction. The fact that almost all of the songs (except for “(Theme of) Chariots of Fire”) are well over five minutes makes one lose a sense of time. Especially when the opening track is more than eight minutes long and the track that follows is another six. However, if you must listen to any one song by itself, then choose “Lost of Love.” The track swells and subsides until the last one-and-a-quarter minute is just a build up to a breathtaking melodic crescendo of piano and drums.
A Bad Plus album would not be complete without a cover. They are one of the few bands that can do covers often and not get any flack for it. For the sole cover on Suspicious Activity, they chose “(Theme of) Chariots of Fire,” which seems quite fitting. For this cover, it sounds like the jazz trio layered their boisterous sound over the classic new-age piece.
Overall, Suspicious Activity is an album worth making time to listen to from beginning to end.

The Chronicle gives “Suspicious Activity” by The Bad Plus five out of five stars.