The Necks
Travel
USA Northern Spy NS158 2LP / CD (2022)
Recorded at Studios 301 in Alexandria, Australia by Tim Whitten, the trio of Chris Abrahams on piano and Hammond, Tony Buck drums and percussion and Lloyd Swanton double bass. Travel is their nineteenth studio album, and I believe directly follows the releases Three and the DRIFT collaboration with Underworld which are both from 2020. The Necks are usually known for their “typical 60+ minute arc” – an excellent concert of which I was able to witness first-hand at Brighton’s St Luke’s Church a few years ago – but here, they present four much shorter trio improvisations: an approach they last used on their 2017 release Unfold on Ideologic Organ.
The opening piece, “Signal” presents a relentless bass motif; pure repetition – something The Necks do well – with a vague added flavour of reggae skanking. “Forming” is a slower, more piano-led piece with shimmering percussion and what seems to be organ overdubs. This track refers more to a spiritual jazz vibe and successfully maintains a mood of unease and tension throughout. The third track, “Imprinting”, features electronics and/or some kind of live processing which results in a more abstract feel; this is emphasised by Abrahams’ watery, Leslie-fied organ sounds. Final piece, “Bloodstream”, features a weird, microtonal polysynth or glass harmonica sound at the beginning which almost gives it an air of Terry Riley’s A Rainbow In Curved Air. In the second half, the music becomes more dramatic and overblown – they like the key of F – while Buck performs endless rolls, which may sound odd, but makes total sense in the context of the track – fantastic. Musicians only get this good at group improvisation by engaging in it regularly together for 30-plus years! Even when presenting relatively short pieces, Abrahams Buck and Swanton remain masters of long duration extemporisation.