French trio The Cry make good with their keyboards-and-drums album The Cry (GIZEH RECORDS GZH105) featuring Christine Ott who some years ago made a rather forgettable record associated with the classic piece of cinema, Nanook of the North. Thought I’d mention this fact since the trio’s rather “cosmic” long-form opening cut ‘Fire Of Love’ also has a movie connection, based on a documentary about a couple who love volcanoes and spend their lives criss-crossing the globe in search of a good magma fix. Shades of Pink Floyd and Obscured By Clouds, you might think, and indeed the scene-changing proggy textured exploits of The Cry are not too far apart from early 70s Floyd, just lacking a plangent guitar. Rest of album doesn’t quite deliver the lysergic planet-trotting sandals vibe, but it’s good to hear someone unafraid to draw near to the Ondes Martenot, that most foreboding of early synths, as Christine Ott does. If only she could wring a tone that’s more unearthly and unsettling from its wiry intestines, rather than make do with a comforting slightly-askew drone. With Mathieu Gabry on synths and piano, and Pierre-Loic Le Bliquet on drums. (13/07/2023)
Swiss player Eva-Maria Karbacher here with a fine solo record Ochotona Calls (WIDE EAR RECORDS WER070), made with her muted soprano saxophone and nothing else. She’s a member of Saxophone Quartet Uneven Same, distinguished by being an all-female combo, heard to great effect on the set of compositions by Thomas K.J. Mejer, label-mate and fellow Swiss. As an earnest of her skills, Karbacher spends 21:51 mins detailing the life of the ochotona as her opening cut, a bubblement of unpredictable patterns and shapes oddly punctuated by a judicious buzz (from overblowing) acting as counterpoint and percussion section. I never saw an ochotona in the wilds of America and Asia where they live, but though they resemble a mouse these small mammals are more akin to a rabbit. Although it uses its voice to pass on messages and danger warnings to its fellow ochsters, Eva-Maria Karbacher is not setting out to emulate the sound of this animal, rather to suggest its “lively and agile nature”. This may account for the slightly scuttling mode of the music. Even the dreams of the animal are, with great sympathy, described on the second track. As far as I can recall, few saxophonists in the history of free improvisation have exhibited such compassion for the animal kingdom. I only wish this theme had extended to the cover art, which is rather bland array of pinks and blues, like the paintings in a dentist waiting room. Otherwise, score five reeds to Eva-Maria. (17/07/2023)
French player Pascal Lovergne arrives from Lille with their Palace Sessions (NO LABEL) EP, all performed solo by him on a solo acoustic bass guitar, as he perches before a single microphone. Opening moments suggested we might be in for a bout of the minimalisms in Wandelweiser mode, but not exactly; although Lovergne calls himself an improviser and a composer, he’s also intent on exploring – or perhaps suggesting – many diverse musical styles and genres, including Indian ragas and 12-bar blues. At this point it’s probably tempting to cast one eye in the direction of your Takoma collections, but in fact Lovergne has evolved, or cultivated, his own very unique style which owes very little to conventional ripple-picking, open tunings, or chord shapes. Much more muted and reflective than the average Fahey copyist. Just to throw another element into the mix, he’s apparently familiar with the work of Pierre Vasseur, a very obscure musique concrète composer who released his music under his own Free Way Musique private press in the 1980s, later to be rescued by the Creel Pone CDR label. Vasseur had some ideas about “relevant contours” in his music, which has impacted on Pascal Lovergne to the extent that’s he’s undertaken a “long time search” to apply these principles to his own music. This EP is one result of that labour. Although admittedly restricted in its sonic reach, the record does document Lovergne’s very assured performing style, and invokes a very particular mood of introspection and contemplation. (12/07/2023)