By Fotis Nikolakopoulos
The trio of Spaces Unfolding (Emil Karlsen on drums, Neil Metcalfe on flute, Philipp Wachsmann on
violin) has been reviewed here on this site before and was, still is, a main
feature on the resurrection of the great Bead Records. This trio channels the
very essence of the experimental ethos in music, using improvisational
techniques and practices as a means to a collective feeling about music. It’s
not an easy task and they make it even more difficult for themselves by adding
the complex electronics of Pierre Alexandre Tremblay. To clarify things, by
more difficult I mean that, always, adding another person takes time and energy
to continue in the same vein. Improvisation is demanding, that’s why its fruits
are so juicy.
The presence of
Tremblay marks a shift in the jazz based free improv stance of the trio. He
helps create atmospheres where the respected instruments of the trio move
freely without any hesitation. I’m, as a listener but also as someone who feels
that the less amplification the better nowadays, quite skeptical about the use
of electronics in any kind of freely improvised musics. Apart from my latter
comment, electronics can easily saturate the music, leaving the acoustic nature
of it behind, making it many times barely inaudible.
But on Shadow Figures
this isn’t the case, quite the opposite. It seems that Tremblay’s use of the
ambience of the recording space opened up new possibilities for them. Both the
violin and the drums seem to be ever-expanding in every audio way is possible.
The duo of Wachsmann and Karlsen offer the listener an alternative way to hear.
The percussive nature of the violin (sounds from its body and strings) is at
the forefront, while Karlsen’s playing is full of ideas, gestures and small
scale energetic playing. Metcalfe’s flute is a part of the electronic dialect
between him and Tremblay’s humble use of electronics. In some tracks, like the two part
Refractions, Tremblay takes the upper hand, transforming Shadow Figures into almost
an ambient record. But that’s one of the facets of the quartet’s music. Quite
thrillingly there are many of them, and in terms of listening and exploring
this CD is one of the most demanding I’ve listened to the whole year. One of
the best and most rewarding too.
@koultouranafigo