On the cassette Sepertae (LINEAR OBSESSIONAL
RECORDINGS LOR117), UK improvisers Daniel Spicer and Paul Khimasia Morgan join
forces to create tiny intimate sounds with a largely acoustic set-up. Paul
happens to contribute writings to this magazine, and I assume “knows” quite a
lot about the theory and practice of improvised music, but does not seek to
position himself as some sort of “meta-musician” when he sets to performing.
His chosen implement of late is a cannibalised acoustic guitar, stripped down
to just the body which he uses as a cavernous oyster when playing his miniature
live electronics kit. Rubbing the wooden body is permitted, but what we see and
hear enacted in each performance relies on a mysterious bond between one man
and his little pet.
Spicer does blow flutes, cornets, recorders, shenai,
trumpet and other such puffers in the West Hill Blast Quartet (who play good
energy jazz in the free high wind mode), but I personally value him more for
his more idiosyncratic side which occasionally surfaces in performance. His
work here on piano, bugle, violin and “bamboo sax” (an early form of Peruvian
knitting rod) isn’t especially zanoid perhaps, but it’s out there – the work of
one who is quietly taking risks and edging the music out into a certain space,
a space as near the shoreline a man can go without actually standing in the
ocean…although that might be the next phase of the plan. Indeed, both Morgan
and Spicer could be said to be gently expanding the envelope of what is
possible with their respective sound kits, and what is permissible between them
as two collaborating individuals; for the latter, every move is made with great
mutual respect and compassion, a spirit of “what if we try this?”.
In this context, small gestures and short repeated
phrases go a long way, rather than the whirlwinds of sudden change and violent
disruption favoured by other roaring-type musicians. At less than 15 mins a
side, you will be left wanting more of this…from 22nd November 2018.
Ed Pinsent, The Sound Projector, 27 May 2019
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