| And we disappear The Sealed Knot |
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| Please click here for other recordings by Rhodri Davies |
"At
the heart of the piece is a series of jarring high-pitched tones
from Davies, working with an e-bowed harp, and a long answering
sequence of double bass from Wastell. Beins provides a sensitive,
ever shifting setting for these sounds, housing them in an ambience
that moves between recognisable percussion instruments and unidentifiable
objects. A feeling of communication through shared spatial and
temporal awareness comes to dominate the listening experience.
The album doesn’t sound like three people engaged in virtuosic
explorations of a particular instrumental vocabulary. Instead these
are collaborative sound makers, loosely in the tradition of AMM,
or David Tudor’s realisations of John Cage, forging music
through whatever means meet the needs of the moment. While electronic
music is an influence, it’s the joint involvement with the
tactile demands of objects and instruments that gives this music
its urgency.” -
| TRACKS | ||
| 1 | and we disappear | 38:30 |
The Sealed Knot
Burkhard Beins percussion
and objects
Rhodri Davies pedal harp and e-bow
Mark Wastell double
bass, bow & beaters
Recorded in Biel, Switzerland,
February 2007
Mixed, edited and nastered by Tomas Korber
Cover photography by Brian Marley
Another Timbre,
70 High Storrs Road,
Sheffield,
England, S11 7LE
“The Sealed Knot is the trio of Burkhard Beins, Rhodri Davies and mark Wastell. In the early 2000’s the group spanned the two key sites of Reductionist Improv: London and Berlin. The musicians certainly cultivated dialogue between the cities, but, when I interviewed tham for The Wire around that time, they were already unhappy with tags such as Reductionism, lowercase improv or ‘the New London Silence’. There was a sense that the music was moving too swiftly to be caught by such labels.
It was also, even then, often too abrasive for the various quietist tags to stick. This harder, more outward-facing dimension of their work is strongly apparent in parts of ‘And We Disappear’, a single 40 minute piece recorded live in Switzerland in 2007. While the early work betrayed an interest in contemporary composition - the spaciousness of Feldman, or the textural vocabulary of Lachenmann - the more recent work is drawn to slow development and long tones.
At the heart of the piece is a series of jarring high-pitched tones from Davies, working with an e-bowed harp, and a long answering sequence of double bass from Wastell. Beins provides a sensitive, ever shifting setting for these sounds, housing them in an ambience that moves between recognisable percussion instruments and unidentifiable objects. A feeling of communication through shared spatial and temporal awareness comes to dominate the listening experience. The album doesn’t sound like three people engaged in virtuosic explorations of a particular instrumental vocabulary. Instead these are collaborative sound makers, loosely in the tradition of AMM, or David Tudor’s realisations of John Cage, forging music through whatever means meet the needs of the moment. While electronic music is an influence, it’s the joint involvement with the tactile demands of objects and instruments that gives this music its urgency.”
Will Montgomery, The Wire
“A fine live set, almost three year ago now, from a Swiss
festival with Burkhard Beins (percussion, objects), Rhodri Davies (pedal
harp and ebow) and Mark Wastell (double bass, bow, beaters). As in some
of their previous work, one almost has the sense that the performance
was composed, so cohesively does it play out. Beins is a master of injecting
almost-rhythms into the mix 9perhaps abetted by the aforementioned beaters?)
and the whole sound has a delightful sense of both space and propulsion,
one instrument segueing into another, sending matters tumbling along.
Wastell contributes some wonderful arco work, twined with Davies' ebow,
getting into this luscious quasi-drone state, Beins' dry cymbals adding
just the right amount of sandiness. It builds to a brutal
roar about 10 minutes from the end then subsides into a gentle ambiance
of bells and soft plucks. A stunning recording and, incidentally, approachable
enough to qualify as one of those you might foist on a friend who's expressed
interest in the genre.”
Brian Olewnick, Just Outside
| Title: | and we disappear |
| Artists: | The Sealed Knot |
| Genre: | Electronic, STYLE: Free Improvisation, Minimal |
| Format: | CD |
| Our Ref: | A0362 |
| MCPS: | at23 |
| Label: | Another Timbre |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Origin: | UK |