VITAL WEEKLY

This is a new band, a quartet to be precise, with two guitar players, David Stackenäs (of whom we reviewed a bunch of solo releases) and Kim Myhr, along with bass player Joe Williamson and Necks drummer Tony buck. All four of them play their instruments acoustically. The two pieces (thirty-four minutes) were recorded in concert in 2014 at the lovely Fylkingen in Stockholm. It is hard to believe that this music is acoustic, but maybe the acoustic instruments are being amplified. The first piece is 'The Animal Enters And Traverses The Light', which has an interesting hectic and  nervousness in the execution. An orchestral sound, of one that is starting up and getting ready to play, testing the sounds of the instruments but upon closer inspection one realizes that phrases are repeated and that it is a more minimalist piece than one realizes; there is just happening an awful lot in this piece, and Circadia moves from phase to phase, with Tony Buck finally adding a sense of rhythm in there and then the piece slowly dies out, rather peacefully. The second piece 'The Human Volunteers Were Kept In Isolation' starts out way mellower, almost like contemplation, drifting wildly about with lots of sparse notes, leaving space for the music to drift away. Only towards the end, acting as a mirror image of the first piece, things begin to pick up speed and it becomes hectic and nervous again, but all tighter and condensed. I found it hard to believe there are no electronics in this piece, but if it is so, I have even more respect for the way these players handle their instruments.