Regular improv collaborators Daniel Thompson and Colin Webster have released this live set from September 2020 to give the uninitiated a glimpse of their playing relationship and the way that differing viewpoints lead to surprising interactions, veering from placid waves to more frustrated and awkward splashes.
Split into two sets, the hopscotchy guitar that opens is insistent on certain notes, reiterating them but out of order, the tone warm and gentle. Having seen Webster recently venting his spleen with Sex Swing, the sax here is tethered, with notes flipping out and escaping into the wider atmosphere from a relatively compact environment; it is a tentative and cautious opening, as if the players are feeling out each other’s boundaries. There is familiarity and warmth to the sax’s constant exploration, the notes drawing the listener closer.
Things do become more vibrant with shackles released as the piece proceeds. Bear in mind that this is an hour-long disc of three pieces, so things generally unfold slowly, and you gradually notice the rasping bark of the sax and the snatched guitar chords filling the air, not wanting to stay still. There is a sense that neither player wishes to be caught, like two wild creatures at home in a forest, conscious of predators but far too adept to fall into traps. At times a lazy drone overtakes, forcing the dappled guitar into hibernation; but only briefly before it lurches, deformed and awkward, the notes blocky and square while the sax darts around, highlighting the space with its whimsical hat on. There can be real sweetness as well, throwing off the anxiety and allowing themselves to merge with the sunshine and those familiar chords or a minute variation on the same are there again, Thompson searching and searching for the ideal. The gradual, contemplative mood-swings and the stretch from vibrato to lugubrious keeping everything fresh and unexpected.Often the more jarring the guitar, then the sweeter the sax; although at times the metallic insistence feels as if Webster is forcing something into a hole that doesn’t quite fit or the sax bubbles like a loose-lipped chatterbox full of theories and gossip. The duo manages to interact without really seeming to try, although the sax frustration is unmoved by the static-induced guitar scrabble. Rest periods appear with the ghosts of instrumentation, tones whispering out of the speakers, so spare as to be transparent, tapping on the body of the guitar like a trapped spirit.
Interestingly, the final piece starts off like a visit to the metalwork department; the rasp of the file, the vibrational hum of the lathe. This piece feels less playful, more attritional, with the tones flat and insidious, a sense of impending fury into which they both click and things become overblown and ugly. The beauty of these long pieces is the ability of the players to work their way out of a mood and settle into something gentler. They can calm one another and you feel they are musically talking each other off of metaphorical ledges, the meditative guitar allowing the sax to be a little plangent and then earlier motifs are re-introduced and you can definitely sense the welcome arrival from this rollercoaster. This casting about and searching continues for half an hour, each vista of the landscape showing something new yet with a refraction of something that has come before, a blurring of perspectives that takes you right through to the end and a smattering of applause.hakons ea is an impressive and sonically diverse outing which gains with every listen. There are only 200 discs too, so be quick.
-Mr Olivetti-
