On The Blink documents an ad-hoc trio of singular improvisers who play together for the first time – Belgian, Brussels-based electric bassist and electronics player Farida Amadou, who has collaborated before with such heavyweight improvisers like Peter Brötzmann, Steve Noble, and Thurston Moore, fellow Belgian, Oslo-based pianist and electronics player Jonas Cambien, who leads his trio featuring saxophonist André Roligheten and drummer Andreas Wildhagen and has worked and studied Arabic music extensively in Cairo with a number of Egyptian musicians, and Chicagoan sax hero and Aerophonic label founder Dave Rempis, who needs no introduction. The trio was recorded live at Paviljoen Ongehoorde Muziek in Eindhoven in November 2022 during a short tour.
On The Blink captures the entire first day of their collaboration with an afternoon recording session and live evening concert in Eindhoven. The four pieces present the ways this unique trio finds its resonating dynamics, juggling with its many overlapping layers of possibility, with Amadou and Cambien alternating between the bass and the piano and the layers of electronics and noises, and focusing on the percussive qualities of their respective instruments. Rempis is the one who pushes the intense yet chaotic storm of the beginning of the first piece «Extropia» into a powerful, free jazz piece but later all dive into an enigmatic drone.
In the following pieces, Rempis’ alto and tenor saxes adapt cleverly to the industrial-like, repetitive pulses and the distinct sonic palette of Amadou and Cambien. He manages to introduce a deeper, soulful, and lyrical vibe to the stubborn, repetitive pulse and the raw and noisy ambiance of «Radiata». The shorter «Bladderwort» and «Camelopardalis» feature the trio swirling into masses of dense sounds and rhythmic patterns but now it is already clear that the trio has established its unique sound and cohesive and sustained momentum, and is ready for further exploration of its fascinating dynamics.
Eyal Hareuveni
Farida Amadou ( electric bass, electronics), Jonas Cambien (piano, electronics), Dave Rempis (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone)
