Stefan Keune’s latest trio with guitarist Sandy Ewen and bassist Damon
Smith, with whom he performed at the Moers Festival 2023, is dedicated to
his friend and long-time musical collaborator, bassist
Hans Schneider. On the inside cover of the CD there’s a poem by Jean-Hervé Péron, a
member of Krautrock legend Faust, who organizes the festival stage in
Moers. At first glance, “Thoughts of the Dead” seems to be a tribute to the
late bassist, but according to Damon Smith, it was actually pure
coincidence: “I asked Jean-Hervé Péron since he was there. I said it could
be something he had already written and he sent that. I wanted the writing
to be more like cover art, picking someone that has some kind of resonance
and not just a blow by blow. It is a total coincidence that it is about
death.” The cover, on the other hand, has an actual connection to
Schneider. ”When it became clear that the recordings would be released, I
asked Hans to do a drawing for the cover. He always painted and also
designed record covers. Hans then made the picture for the cover pretty
quickly, for which I’ve been very grateful”, says Stefan Keune. The full
title of the drawing, “Two Felt-Tip Pens, Cream, Butter, Oil, Red Wine,
And Salt On Paper“, also explains the naming of the individual tracks on
the recording. According to Keune, the picture might be the last piece of
art Schneider ever did. So, for the saxophonist, the music on this album is
both a musical dedication and a tribute to a friend and musical companion.
But what is more, Two Felt Tip Pens:Live at Moers is simply
excellent free improvised chamber music. “Cream“, the first and longest
piece on the album, begins with a jolt, as if the instruments and their
players were shaken awake. But they don’t react with surprise,
astonishment, or slow awakening, but with energy. Keune’s saxophone chirps
indignantly, Smith’s bass warps notes to the extreme, and Ewen’s guitar
sounds more like a rumbling percussion instrument. It’s as if everyone is
running around confused, bumping into each other, and then ricocheting in
different directions. This intense compression lasts for about five
minutes, then there are more pauses, and the improvisation relaxes. This
pattern, the alternation between compression and expansion, dominates the
music of this trio, with the instruments forming various alliances.
Sometimes the bass and guitar seem to be interwoven, then again the
saxophone and guitar. In the expansive phases, it is the quiet moments that
determine the improvisational action, for example in “Sand“, the closing
track, which ends with the most beautiful drone. In general, listening to
the dynamics created by this trio is the greatest pleasure.
Transforming the reality of our inevitable transience into a joyful
experience through improvisation is perhaps the most important task of
music. Transforming failure and the perpetual new beginning as an
individual and collective destiny in such a way that it gives players and
listeners a feeling of perfection and wholeness, even if only as an
illusion and for the moment, is something that even the most rationalized
music market cannot offer. It requires a different logic and a different
place. The recently deceased former dramaturge of the Berlin Volksbühne, Carl Hegemann, expressed something similar – albeit in relation to theater.
These words contain a beautiful utopia, and in these uncertain times, one
would like nothing more than to believe in it. When I listen to this trio,
everything about it feels true.
Two Felt-Tip Pens: Live At Moers is available as a CD and a
download.
You can listen to it and buy it here: