On this latest collaboration, Tony Oxley has taken the basic building blocks of percussion and diluted them down to their basest elements, and then magnified those, holding them up to the light and studying them in minute detail.
With the assistance of Stefan Holker, these six pieces rise from slow, scattered silence, their scuffling vibrations barely rising above room tone. They feel out the room, touching and gauging; a textural experience to which the electronics add mystery, ever present yet shaded from full view.
The gradual introduction of cymbal leavens the scuffed scratching with sweet echoes. Exploring the minutiae of sounds highlights the otherwise ignored, burrowing into the tiny details and drawing them to the surface. Tentative tapping tests for the sweetest spot, sounds are small and the movements minor. Under the microscope, details are stretched and swollen, while the lens picks up fine elements in the background from the constant subtle shift of slow, specific progress.It is easy to forget this is a treatise on percussion and becomes more like a work of cluttered ambience. It is such a subtle transaction, probing and exploring, providing results for the listener as well as for themselves. Here and there a snare strike or cymbal swish breaks the spell, but the variation in sound as the album progresses is enormous and impressive. In fact, the six pieces all differ microscopically. In some, the electronics feel more integral and the soft bowing of cymbals (possibly) vies with the soft glistening of the electronics.
You find yourself listening intently, searching for patterns or changes in atmosphere. The scope of listening becomes contracted and you are alert for the minutest of changes when a sudden rush of sound might appear; the ticking of radiators and distorted squelches, lifts ascending and descending in the distance. Your ears rove around the room, trying to place yourself, trying to intercept the duo’s conversation and become part of the discourse, but their conversation is so natural that it is beyond you. Where one starts and the other ends is impossible to tell as their endless variations on this theme gradually break down your defences.The electronics slide in and out of focus like rafts, guiding the more vibrant percussive elements. Towards the end, things drop in and out and sounds mingle in a more lively manner with the most vibrant sections left until the end, ushering you out on a note of surprise. This album is a soft and seductive delight that throws up new details on each listen and is well worth checking out.
-Mr Olivetti-
