The Squid's Ear
Writing about improvised, contemporary, experimental and unusual music,
following the activities of Squidco...
  •  •  •     Join Our Mailing List!



The Squid's Ear




Heard In

Reviews of artist releases:
cd's, books, magazines, &c.


  Alessandro Bosetti / Chris Abrahams 
  A Heart That Responds from Schooling
  (Unsounds) 


  
   review by Brian Olewnick
  2016-02-18
Alessandro Bosetti / Chris Abrahams: A Heart That Responds from Schooling (Unsounds)

Almost anything Bosetti gets involved with can be guaranteed to possess a certain amount of unusualness, for better or worse, and this collaboration with the fine pianist Chris Abrahams (known for his work with The Necks, among others is no exception, pluses and minuses included.

The opening track, "Eye", is quite lovely — delicate, even romantic piano over a field of abstract clicks and static, interspersed with deep, dark moans (apparently sourced from voice) and hazy, metallic, echoing tones; a fine balance of the lush and the edgily uncomfortable. "Reservoirs" provides an interesting contrast, Abrahams playing spare, single notes, like an astringent Tristano with (presumably) Bosetti offering several layers of roughly corresponding electronic blips; the piece ends up sounding somewhat like a bastard child of Nancarrow, not bad. The first of two covers follows, Steve Lacy's "Esteem", for which Bosetti has written lyrics, sung in a soft, high-pitched voice, strangely reminiscent in both timbre and approach to Annette Peacock. It's an odd tack though, to this writer's ears, a largely successful one, appropriately tentative and fragile, beautifully offset by Abrahams' sensitive playing.

A pleasant enough quasi-ambient works follows, then the disc's second cover, Milton Nascimento's "Bridges" with Gene Lees' lyrics once again sung by Bosetti, this time more conventionally, though with an appealing graininess. Nonetheless, the overall effect is surprisingly sentimental; it's tough to tell whether it's tongue-in-cheek or not. If so, one wonders why they bothered, if not, well, it's rather forgettable. "Greenhouses" is the longest cut and meanders a bit as the piano, with a similar approach as that heard previously in "Reservoirs", is accompanied by electronics, both skittering atop and thunking somewhat tediously below — fleeting free improv over death metal rhythm, not such a hot combo. Oppressive, in fact, though no doubt intentionally so. The closing "La Nourriture" is another odd one, with spoken text (in French) over, once again, single piano notes, here shadowing the voice, and vague, ghostly, electronically enhanced vocal choruses. Unsettling but also rather unsatisfying.

A mixed bag, then, worthwhile for its first half, less so for its second.







Comments and Feedback:



More Recent Reviews, Articles, and Interviews @ The Squid's Ear...


The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Derek Bailey/
John Stevens:
The Duke of
Wellington
(Confront)



Paul Dunmall:
Away With
Troubles And Anxieties!
(Discus)



Shifa (
Musson/
Thomas/
Sanders):
Ecliptic
(Discus)



Natsuki Tamura/
Satoko Fujii:
Ki
(Libra)



Borah Bergman/
Anthony Braxton/
Peter Brotzmann:
Eight By Three
(Mixtery)



Hedvig Mollestad Trio:
Bees In
The Bonnet
(Rune Grammofon)



Acid Mothers Temple &
The Melting Paraiso
UFO:
Black Mountain
ide
(Rolling Heads)



Evan Parker/
Bill Nace:
Branches (
Live at Cafe OTO)[VINYL]
(Open Mouth)



Alexander Hawkins/
Taylor Ho Bynum:
A Near Permanent State
Of Wonder
(RogueArt)



Joseph Holbrooke (
w/ Derek Bailey/
Gavin Bryars/
Tony Oxley):
Last Live 2001 -
In Memoriam
Derek Bailey
And
Tony Oxley
[2 CDs]
(Tzadik)



Zeena Parkins:
Modesty Of
The Magic Thing
(Tzadik)



Dave Douglas (
Douglas/
Ridout/
Adewumi/
Brennan/
Pass/
Royston):
Alloy
(Greenleaf Music)



Ivo Pereleman/
Nate Wooley/
Matt Moran/
Mark Helias/
Tom Rainey:
A Modicum
Of the Blues
(Fundacja Sluchaj!)



Angles 11:
Tell Them
It's The Sound Of Freedom
(Fundacja Sluchaj!)



Sifter (
w/ Lisa Mezzacappa):
Flake/
Fracture
(Queen Bee Records)



Jean-Marc Foussat:
Abbatage
(Fou Records)



Chester Hawkins:
Apsis
(Intangible Arts)



Karl Evangelista's Apura +
Andrew Cyrille:
Bukas
(577 Records)



Frode Gjerstad/
Alexander von Schlippenbach/
Dag Magnus Narvesen:
Seven Tracks
(Relative Pitch)



Kaze (
Fujii/
Tamura/
Orins/
Pruvost) with/ Koichi Makigami:
Shishiodoshi
(Circum-Libra)







Squidco
Click here to
advertise with
The Squid's Ear






The Squid's Ear pays its writers.
Interested in becoming a reviewer?




The Squid's Ear is the companion magazine to the online music shop Squidco !


  Copyright © Squidco. All rights reserved. Trademarks. (5859)