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12.09.2006 / Cadence, USA, Sept.2006
DEMIERRE-GUY-NIGGLI
Brainforest
Here´s another deconstruction of the pianotrio, but it´s as fresh a project as any of these three fantastic musicians has helmed previously. Lovers of Free Jazz won´t be disappointed, but the disc also plunges headlong into contemporary classical territory and something approaching flat-out noise; the results are alternately un-nerving and amusing while also always satisfying.
Tracks like " La Fuente de la Juventud" show the trio dabbling in post-modern whimsy, stunted and stuttering uhr-swing infected by swoops and slides galore from Guy and hiccups and false starts from Demierre and Niggl. Groups like Sinistri would kill to achieve what these veterans pull off in just a few minutes. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the spaciously beautiful fifth track; it beginsas a study in texture and interplay nearing silence, Demierre obviously takinng a page from Ligeti´s composition manual, as he does on the title track, but bringing even more lightness of touch to the proceedings. To say that the track builds would be criminally understating the case, and by what should be the climax, Guy has switched to arco and Niggli to faded brushes, taps, and cymbals, leaving Demierre thunder threateningly in the lower register. The build continues, but, unlike so many similar improvs, the tension is maintained and increased, becoming unbearable. It´s the only occasion on which I really thought that sheer force would damage a speaker while listening to a piano trio. Finally, as if on cue, the dynamic level drops dizzyingly to a beautiful harmonic from Guy, a stunning display of timbral control.
In retrospect, the first half of the disc was a long preparation for "Whalebalance", and my hhope was that followed would balance things out. I was not disappointed, and the final trackk behaves alost like the fifth in miniature; its final notes hang suspended over the oncoming void, rich in overtone but breathy in substance. It would be so easy for these musicians to fall into cliché, especially given that these are club recordings. This never happens, and I look forward eagerly to hearing more from this exciting group.
Marc Medwin