It’s been a long while since I heard the term “electroacoustic improvisation” bandied around, and for some reason I thought the term might be deprecated in the buoyant, go-ahead optimism of 2024. Yet here are In Situ Ens., an international combo described as electroacoustic in the press release here. EAI (as some would have it abbreviated) brought a new wrinkle to the genre of free improvisation by expressly allowing and encouraging amplification, electronics, computers and battery-operated effects pedals into the performing arena, secure in the knowledge that from this free-flowing mix all manner of aural delights would blossom.
Actually on today’s record Same Place (CUBUS RECORDS C377), the amplified-acoustic balance isn’t really a major feature, although here is Christian Müller credited with electronics, and the splendidly great Rhodri Davies wielding his electronic harp. There’s also Liz Allbee (a personal fave in these pages) on her typical trumpet, Christian Kobi on saxophone, Magda Mayas (piano) and Enrico Malatesta (percussion). The record – the debut release of this combo – gives us five 2022 studio recordings made in Bern and an oblique, allusive text from David Toop by way of liner notes. What struck me on early spins here was how nothing sounded remotely like a musical instrument being played, and it’s as though all five players had entered into a compact to “de-nature” everything. Almost every sound, be it blown, plucked, hit, scraped or otherwise produced from the claws of the condor, emerges as something vaguely percussive; the whole album is like a rich tapestry of unusual clonks. I appreciate that “extended playing” is now an established part of the improviser’s toolbox, so perhaps what we’re hearing is one of the latest outcroppings or mutations of that strand. We’re also quite some distance away from minimalism or reduced playing, because there’s a considerable amount of incident, movement, and micro-bubbling at play – I am trying to avoid using the word “texture” – tempered by the need for mutual respect, quieter playing, and attention to dynamics.
For all this expertise and experience in the room, Same Place fails to excite me much. There seems to be a fundamental lack of tension, no creative spark among the five, nor any real consensus on shared territory. Both Davies and Allbee have been spikier, noisier, and more engaging; but I also admit that such qualities would not be welcome within this particular project, which seems to be positioned in a zone of friendly non-intervention and risk-averse-ness. I’m hoping for more revelations on future spins, and perhaps Toop’s vision of “spaces of imagined airs, untouchable dimensions that invite exploration by listening” will become clearer to me. From 2nd March 2023.
Edited to remove inaccurate statement 16/10/2024