NIK BÄRTSCH'S MOBILE - Continuum
ECM 475 9368
MOBILE
Nik Bärtsch (piano); Sha (bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet); Kaspar Rast (drums, percussion); Nicolas Stocker (drums, tuned percussion)
EXTENDED
Etienne Abelin, Ola Sendecki (violin); David Schnee (viola); Solme Hong, Ambrosius Huber (cello)
Recorded March 2015
After four astonishing albums for ECM with his longstanding band Ronin, the Swiss keyboard player and composer has returned with his original, and all acoustic group, Mobile, and continues to confound expectation in the breadth and sheer scope of his musical vision.
As with his previous albums, Mobile adopts the same musical ideology and stance as with the electric band Ronin, with Bärtsch writing material that is based on repetition and reduction. Rather than hindering the flow of the music, paradoxically the ensemble embrace the self imposed restrictions and use the space that they themselves can generate from within the seemingly rigid structures to allow the compositions to breathe freely. With minute changes of dynamics and inflections, even the long moments of repetition will be varied as the music is produced by humans playing the acoustic instruments, and not by computer generated loops or other electronic manipulation, and it is this interaction (and reaction) to what is being played that bring a warmth to what could otherwise be a cold and clinical environment.
Musically Bärtsch follows the same basic principals that made Ronin such a sonic delight, sans electronics or amplified instruments, yet still retains that hard edged vitality within the quartet. This heard in the punchy riffing and rhythmic propulsion of 'Modul 8_11' that brings the composition and the album to such a dramatic climax. In contrast the opening 'Modul 29_14' begins quietly over a repetitive piano motif that gradually gives way to a to gentle rhythmic lilt from percussion and drums and Sha's persistant bass line on (bass) clarinet. This simple yet effective device is used again, to altogether different means, in 'Modul 4' with the chugging contrabass clarinet riff, and Bärtsch's chiming piano lines played on the higher registers of the instrument.
With Mobile Extended, the pianist/composer adds a further equation into the mix with the addition of a five piece string section that, whilst play from wholly composed scores, blend with the core quartet to produce a chamber music that contrary to expectation in no way slows , restricts or hampers the natural groove and flow of Mobile, and indeed offers up more possibilities within the music that Nik Bärtsch may wish to develop. The industrial sounds of the extended ensemble on 'Modul 18' are dispelled completely on the spellbinding 'Modul 60', with the larger group once again conjuring up more ominous undertones after a gentle introduction with brushes on skin and a deceptive melody from the violins before the dramatic closing section.
An album full of paradoxes that works and engages on multiple levels, Nik Bärtsch's Mobile look to nurture and further the concepts and ideas consolidated with Ronin into yet more new and uncharted territory, and it is highly recommended that their journey should be followed with interest.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
ECM 475 9368
MOBILE
Nik Bärtsch (piano); Sha (bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet); Kaspar Rast (drums, percussion); Nicolas Stocker (drums, tuned percussion)
EXTENDED
Etienne Abelin, Ola Sendecki (violin); David Schnee (viola); Solme Hong, Ambrosius Huber (cello)
Recorded March 2015
After four astonishing albums for ECM with his longstanding band Ronin, the Swiss keyboard player and composer has returned with his original, and all acoustic group, Mobile, and continues to confound expectation in the breadth and sheer scope of his musical vision.
As with his previous albums, Mobile adopts the same musical ideology and stance as with the electric band Ronin, with Bärtsch writing material that is based on repetition and reduction. Rather than hindering the flow of the music, paradoxically the ensemble embrace the self imposed restrictions and use the space that they themselves can generate from within the seemingly rigid structures to allow the compositions to breathe freely. With minute changes of dynamics and inflections, even the long moments of repetition will be varied as the music is produced by humans playing the acoustic instruments, and not by computer generated loops or other electronic manipulation, and it is this interaction (and reaction) to what is being played that bring a warmth to what could otherwise be a cold and clinical environment.
Musically Bärtsch follows the same basic principals that made Ronin such a sonic delight, sans electronics or amplified instruments, yet still retains that hard edged vitality within the quartet. This heard in the punchy riffing and rhythmic propulsion of 'Modul 8_11' that brings the composition and the album to such a dramatic climax. In contrast the opening 'Modul 29_14' begins quietly over a repetitive piano motif that gradually gives way to a to gentle rhythmic lilt from percussion and drums and Sha's persistant bass line on (bass) clarinet. This simple yet effective device is used again, to altogether different means, in 'Modul 4' with the chugging contrabass clarinet riff, and Bärtsch's chiming piano lines played on the higher registers of the instrument.
With Mobile Extended, the pianist/composer adds a further equation into the mix with the addition of a five piece string section that, whilst play from wholly composed scores, blend with the core quartet to produce a chamber music that contrary to expectation in no way slows , restricts or hampers the natural groove and flow of Mobile, and indeed offers up more possibilities within the music that Nik Bärtsch may wish to develop. The industrial sounds of the extended ensemble on 'Modul 18' are dispelled completely on the spellbinding 'Modul 60', with the larger group once again conjuring up more ominous undertones after a gentle introduction with brushes on skin and a deceptive melody from the violins before the dramatic closing section.
An album full of paradoxes that works and engages on multiple levels, Nik Bärtsch's Mobile look to nurture and further the concepts and ideas consolidated with Ronin into yet more new and uncharted territory, and it is highly recommended that their journey should be followed with interest.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
