Experimental pianist and composer Johnny Richards is probably best known for his part in Shatner’s Bassoon, but has done plenty of other genre pushing collaborations. For his latest, he teams up with Bad Plus drummer Dave King and by a series of transatlantic transactions, they have stitched together a suite of ten personal and complex pieces that required Johnny’s piano to be treated in various ways to provide an extraordinary array of sounds and textures.
Once an initial idea was recorded, this was sent to Dave who added some sort of further percussive textures before Johnny reacted once again to the revised sound. How many times this to-ing and fro-ing took place is hard to say, but the end result is a unique set of playful yet thought-provoking songs that worm their way into your brain.
It is really hard to know what came first on opener “Chance Would Be A Fine Thing”, its careful pointillist piano offset by drums that seem to be slightly out of time. The piano notes are considered but circle the drums as they simultaneously step around one another. The lower piano notes treated with blu-tac sound more like a bass and this sensation of the piano sounding like another instrument runs all through the album. In fact, it resembles a harpsichord on “Sleepless In Settle” and has that unsettling Cardiacs-like momentum where the listener is unable to draw breath. Each variation of the piano sounds different to what came before and the flurries of notes on “Memory Man”, prancing like a horse, come from an instrument that sounds as though it was found by the side of the road. The unique tones also highlight Johnny’s individual sensibilities and this combination of unusually treated pianos and an adventurous approach to structure also generates tension with deep sonorous notes resounding against the chattering bell-like upper parts. They feel like the soundtrack to a particularly vibrant dream, with slow thunderous percussion subtly underlying every section.As the album progresses, so the ideas evolve, a new strain of logic introduced with each track; the scampering playfulness of the high end might counter the doomy low end or the notes may sound drunken, leering from the piano as the percussion jostles and cajoles. The experience might be slightly more uncomfortable, but then those cheering bell-like tones will re-appear or the harpsichord sound will settle like butterflies on the propulsive cymbal play. It really is a tour de force of tone and texture that offers something fresh up on every listen and well recommended.
-Mr Olivetti-
