Extracts

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“There’s something to be said for taking the less travelled road; in improvised music, that means the path of small scale, modest dynamics, careful plotting, design over demonstration. As their abbreviated name suggests, the trio of Graham Halliwell (alto saxophone), Simon H Fell (acoustic bass), and Simon Vincent (drums) manoeuvre among the extremes of high and low frequencies, tactfully devising the shape of their explorations as they go. Loud, flashy gestures are kept to a minimum. Graceful interaction of details-colour, texture, timbre-and group empathy allow the music to coalesce.

If Fell’s bass stands out in the mix, it’s a combination of his forceful (though not overwhelming) ideas and the willingness of the others to blend rather than bluster. On “Xe”, his buzzing bass (reminiscent of an African mbira) prompts them to seek overtones and ghost notes via drones and furtive activity within a near static environment. Similar attitudes thrive throughout-the grain in the groan of Fell’s arco is palpable as it flows into the waves of Vincent’s tone generator on “Ra”, and the three bustle about percussively on the level of mouse clatter in “Tr”. For Halliwell, melody is primarily a sequence of murmurs and moans, often amid bass harmonics and random drum mumbling. Vincent’s work is fine tuned, frisky, and ear catching irregular. Together, their concern is to develop the sounds from the inside out. Free improvisers are everywhere these days, and seemingly in constant contact across geographical and stylistic distances, so it shouldn’t be surprising to find these Brits on a new label recently founded in New Jersey. Forthcoming releases promise electroacoustic excursions featuring Martin Tetreault from Montreal, Thomas Lehn from Germany, and Gunter Muller from Switzerland. The more the merrier.”
The Wire
Art Lange
11/99