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| 1. Aether |
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Review
Over the last fifteen years or so they've forged a kind of reductionist improv that has few comparisons. Drummer Tony Buck, bassist Lloyd Swanton and keyboardist Chris Abrahams are all seasoned jazzers; Swanton and Abrahams formed half of wonderfully energetic post boppers The Benders, where Abrahams' muscular, choppy piano was the main voice. Meanwhile Buck has played abstract improv with Otomo Yoshihide, but the Necks' music is a world away from such hyperactivity.
Drawing from systems music, electronica and rock, the Necks re-engineer the jazz keyboard trio into a tone generator, improvising with texture and space rather than notes and chords. And big spaces too; the band are in it for the long haul, playing pieces that usually clock in at around an hour. These durations are crucial to the music, mainly because The Necks are masters of structure. This is even more apparent on Aether, which strips away the cyclical grooves of previous outings to be their most minimal offering yet.
Opening with a repeated, massively spaced chord, Aether unfolds itself slowly, deliberately. Repeated piano figures, occasional bass pulse, bells, cymbal wash and organ shimmers appear and disappear, eventually building to a glowing Reichian throb of tom toms and hammering piano. They marry the open spaces and luscious textures of Eno's Music for Airports with the warmth of improvised playing with sensitivity, intelligence and stamina.
In much the same way as Davis' "He Loved him Madly" or Coltrane's "Ascension", Aether is a totally immersive experience. Though they're playing with just a single chord, subtle nuances, additions and subtractions tease out new beauties within it throughout the piece. By the end, it's possible to believe that it's the only chord that ever existed, and any other music sounds hopelessly verbose. Aether's 64 minutespass by with the ease of seconds but each are as elemental as the phases of the moon. Brilliant.
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Customer Reviews
The composition is basically formed around a cycle of chords that, to start, are very separated-20 seconds peak-to-peak-and gradually move closer together while adding more instrumental color (organ, electric piano, electric bass, arco bass, bells, tumba) around the core of acoustic bass, cymbals, and piano. The opening chord itself gorgeously plunges you into the cycle and the evolution begins; at the end, you can't believe how you arrived there.
Obvious comparisons can be made to Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Can, Fela Kuti, Basinski's Disintegration Loops, and many others but it must be said that The Necks are plying their own sound. There is perhaps a reflection of the Australian landscape-the vast stretches of land, island isolation-seen in the long-form that their music prefers. Indeed, I listened to Aether while driving across Idaho on Highway 20 and found it an ideal companion.
Aether is a wonderful 'moment in time'. I hear Jade Warrior's magic (Island Years), Medeski, Martin and Wood (Tonic) and some of the best ECM sounds when that label transformed for a brief time towards a new age leaning sound (Soltice, Towner, Oregon -Vangaurd).
It is a music groups' masterpiece. The musicians 'hear' each other and follow the airy and building mood from beginning to the end of the piece. I normally don't get into too much really mellow sounding stuff, but Aether is just an exceptional record. I can't get enough of it. Exquisite spin!
This is certainly theta-state music, striking a beautiful balance between excitation and calm. I would not be surprised if this music were embraced to cure schizophrenia, depression, or anxiety. There are no hooks, no conventional elements, nothing to hold onto in the Aether - only the continuous flow of sound through an omega point of mental and somatic resolution. Sonic pointillism, perhaps? Whatever it is, or whatever we might want to call it, I would not hesitate to bring it with me to my deathbed along with Coyote Oldman's "Thunder Chord," Peter Gabriel's "Passion," David Sylvian and Holger Czukay's "Plight/Premonition," and Divination's "Sacrifice." It's really that good.
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