KALI Trio – The Playful Abstract

Ronin Rhythm

The sounds that bubble up on experimental Swiss troupe KALI Trio‘s latest release feel as though they are filtering through from some distant place, ratchetting and whirring.

The production is dub-heavy and indolent and reverberates around us while a big, lazy heartbeat tries to smother the textured backdrop which is alive with echoing, half-hidden sounds. It can move at pace, lively yet elegant, with chiming guitars that are a little reminiscent of Michael Brook, but their jazz influences do peep through and they come on like a cavernous cousin of the Portico Quartet.

The scuffling hi-hat and descending guitar motif of “4k Gently Peaceful” is warming and the drums seem to like taking the lead and then dropping away; while “Cascading” has more of a constricted post-punk guitar sound — but then I was wondering whether it was a guitar such is the level of strangulation. They do like to push the instruments to their limits and as all three players are credited with electronics or effects, the palette is pretty wide plus the production is dramatic enough to have me imagining an old 4AD band signing to ECM.

It is hard to tell which player is making which noise and although a trio, the sound is satisfyingly full. There is a lovely electro tribal rhythm to “Mos 3” and what sound like steel pans defying expectation. A sinuous quality to the bass beat and drum pattern hint at addiction, while the guitar touches had me dreaming of a reconvened Dif Juz. Purely by coincidence I am sure, there are elements of this album that are the closest we may ever come to that dream.

There are some really imaginative rhythms distributed throughout the album and some of the electronic sounds that are used almost act as an extension of the kit,while others feel as if they are being wrung out of the instruments or chased like rare butterflies around a Japanese garden. Meanwhile, the firefly guitar follows its own patterns, appearing and dissipating, often at odds with the more jaundiced electronics. Towards the end, the chilled out night beat of “Field” evokes Bowery Electric with its subtle drone a long moody antithesis to what has come before.

The album ends with the most abstract experiment so far, the scattered piano and scuffed guitar of “Flux” shares space with the sound of someone scraping nutmeg. Other noises appear and mutate and interact like a heavy stream of people intuitively avoiding one another. It is an interesting end to The Playful Abstract that asks some fresh questions and leaves the listener to answer in their own way.

The Playful Abstract is an assured, adventurous and exciting journey and on green and white splatter vinyl also looks the part. Well recommended.

-Mr Olivetti-