Freejazz blog

This is a very long and fascinating journey into the deep nature of sound, with Jim Denley on wind instruments, Kim Myhr on twelve-string guitar and zither, and Ingar Zach on gran cassia and percussion.

The album gives on three CDs a good part of a four hour performance at the Rothko Chapel in 2013. The music is less murmuring that this review's title might suggest. The approach is minimalist in terms of instrumentation and pitch variation, but the trio evolves between fascinating quietness and violence, working with intensity, power and other dynamics at their disposal to create an absolutely unpredictable suite of sound. At times you think that Armageddon is near (play it full volume) followed by zen-like calm and sooting bell sounds. The inherent repetitiveness of their music's nature builds hypnotic tension that can easily be challenged by disturbingly human cries on the sax or ripped to pieces by majestic bangs on the gran cassia, creating maximal dramatic effects contrasted by more quiet moments that never drop the overall tension of the sound.

The three musicians are phenomenal at co-creation, improvising together and moving together in developing the dark and fragile atmospheres they build, an amazing feat that becomes more impressive the more you listen to it.

You could think that after three previous albums, the nature of their approach has been explored but that is definitely not th case. The fact to have now a triple-CD album, bringing us the last three hours of a four-hour concert is amazing. It was all performed in one piece, so it is sad indeed that we have to change the disc from time to time, but that's really a minor thing, and we obviously wish to have had the first hour too.

This music requires attentive listening, because a lot is taking place, making this a must-have for fans.