Some players use generic and structural boundaries to focus their
music, but not this trio. They delight in coloring outside the lines,
drawing inspiration from modern classical music, European free
improvisation, and jazz. This set of duo and trio performances is completely improvised, but
each man brings both steely internal discipline and a willingness to play
(in every sense of the word) to the proceedings. The outcome is absorbing music that is abstract but coherent.
The record opens with "Robots Don't Cough," a brief rush of energy and
ideas that pits busy, decorative percussion against the metallic clank of
Brennan's prepared piano. Prepared piano, for the uninitiated, is an
approach to the keyboard that involves damping the instrument's strings by
placing objects on them. In Brennan's hands this approach is never
gimmicky; his colorations are an understated adjunct to his fluent playing
on an unmodified piano. The duos are intriguing studies in the sonic
relationships; it's fascinating to hear the balance of hissing, popping
reed sounds against rustling percussion on "Siluanos" or the way Coleman
weaves teakettle-like whistles through the rumbling maze that issues from
the innards of Brennan's piano on "Poco Loco." But the players attain an
emotional and sonic critical mass when they all play together; on "To Hoo
Wa Bo Hoo" the swell of bowed piano strings and rustling percussion cradles
an especially lyrical clarinet melody, while the following track "Nadir"
simmers with brooding menace.
This is album will replay the effort you'll
invest in finding it by revealing its secrets slowly, telling you something
new with each listen.
If you like Momentum, check out:
Mats Gustafsson The Education Of Lars Jerry
Polwechsel Polwechsel 2
ICP Orchestra Jubilee Varia
John Wolf Brennan The Well-Prepared Clavier
