Exploring long tones and harmonic interactions of consonance & dissonance through a slowly rotating and patiently evolving series of tones with each of the players in the Tonus trio doubling on wind instruments, as performed by Dirk Serries on soprano melodica & accordion, Martina Verhoeven on concertina & cello, and Colin Webster on clarinet & alto saxophone.
Label: A New Wave of Jazz Catalog ID: nwoj025 Squidco Product Code: 29243
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2019 Country: Belgium Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold Recorded Sunny Side, Inc. Studio, Anderlecht, Belgium, on November 24th, 2018.
"Despite the low volumes, the generous use of space, the long, explorative tones and surprisingly subtle harmonies, the subdued and intimate music on Segment Tones (and other related albums) keeps the flame of dissent burning. Just as the clattering of rambunctious free jazz can be regarded as a tumultuous answer to political provocations and general madness, the minimalist means of this album are as determined in their refusal to comply. While all these droning textures and unusual techniques might sound like a concentrated private affair, bundled together they also turn into an act of resistance, showing there is an alternative to greed, rancor and prejudice, and also to fear and uncertainty. This might be a 'small' release on a little DIY- label from Belgium (of all places), but it represents a larger world of possibilities. "-Guy Peters
"Tonus is the trio of Serries, who plays here the accordion and soprano melodica, his partner Martina Verhoeven, who plays the concertina and cello, and comrade from the Kodian Trio (and many other sonic adventures) Colin Webster on the clarinet and alto sax. Segment Tones, recorded at the Sunny Side studio in November 2018, is totally different in spirit and atmosphere from other recent releases as it focuses on the music of statis as if time has frozen and reveals a much deeper dimension that only music can shed light on. The absence of urgency or rhythmical basis and the investigative approach to the senses of time and space do not affect the peaceful warmth and the fragile poetic lyricism of the three extended drone pieces, each one with its distinct subtle dramatic texture.
Guy Peters, who wrote the liner notes, compares this session to a "way of turning the manic speed of today into something like a refuge, something that has a purity that is too often absent in our daily fights with chaos and fragmentation". You find such minimalist veins in the work of the duo The International Nothing and other experimental outfits that draw their inspiration in minimalist electronica. Or as Peters goes: "Just as the clattering of rambunctious free jazz can be regarded as a tumultuous answer to political provocations and general madness, the minimalist means of this album are as determined in their refusal to comply."-Eyal Hareuveni, The Free Jazz Collective