Electronic / classical composer Tristan Perich has prepared the most intense vibes related album I have heard in a long time. Teaming up with Ensemble 0, they have taken three vibraphones and created a suite of glittering, polyrhythmic movements that showcase the instrument at its lightest and most fleeting; but allied to these, Tristan employs 1-bit electronics as a counter to the vibraphone sweetness.
This is essential for any fans of minimalist repetition as over the first three sections, the three instruments are introduced, one setting out a quick hammered rhythm around which the others swoop and dip. Their purity of tone and the subtly evolving rhythms which drop and surge leave your head ringing with the pace quickening the heart. At times, as the overtones starts to emerge, it sounds as though a helicopter is arriving in the distance and that continues the sense of travelling; a gentle momentum as the changing landscape flashes by.
The first three movements are variations on a theme, but utterly compelling as no moment is repeated. In one instance, one vibraphone draws a circle and the others colour it in; and at another point in a minute of pure clarity, the three rhythms are static, creating an entirely hypnotic effect. As they start to appear, the 1-bit sounds have a similar idea; but they just don’t have the wavering magic of the vibes, working better as a synthetic backdrop and have a one dimensional quality that gradually moves higher into the mix. Midway through, things quieten down and a delightful melody appears, the intense rhythms dropping away with a more aimless drifting wash taking their place. The initial energy is spent here and takes a while to regenerate before re-emerging with renewed vigour. Slowly descending notes cascade over vibrant rhythm and you can feel the momentum being elementally regained. The electronics start to take the place of the vibes, setting the staccato rhythm, phasing in and out and sounding at times like a raft of melodicas.Eventually, the original idea begins to reassert itself and that blossoms into something dizzyingly expansive, like the long-distance runner still stretching for the finishing line, putting in that extra dash. The sheer physicality of the piece comes over at this point until it rings to a close. Open Symmetry is an utterly absorbing fifty minutes of which no second is exactly the same and genuinely, the more you listen, he more you discover ringing in the air. A real treat from start to finish.
-Mr Olivetti-
