Minimal playing from The Necks on Bleed (NORTHERN SPY RECORDS NS168). The Australian trio of Chris Abrahams, Tony Buck and Lloyd Swanton and attempting to do something innovative with the traditional jazz format of acoustic piano, bass, and drums, and one example of their prowess is sustaining the glacial poise without a break for a very long time, as they do here for 42:15 mins on the single track. The music of The Necks has never quite worked for me, but I haven’t been a dedicated listener – perhaps I should have started lending an ear in 1987 when the trio first formed. There’s no doubt the players have formed a remarkable bond in all that time, comparable perhaps to that of AMM and Polwechsel. I’ve found it more interesting when Abrahams plays in other combinations, such as The Dogmatics with Kai Fagashinski. With today’s item, certainly much to admire in the restraint and care with which each note is placed just-so on the imaginary floating canvas, but it’s also lacking in tension somehow – I have a vision of enlightened religious with their eyes shut, pursuing a private devotional vision. Is it heretical to say some of these harmonies are just too tasteful? (01/11/2024)
