The New York-based trio of violinist Erica Dicker, pianist Eli Wallace and percussionist Deric Dickens have been developing their dynamics since 2018, after. This trio combines the musical systems of its interdisciplinary musicians, who work in the field of contemporary music, jazz and free improvised music, and creates an improvising trio language. Each musician brings their own unique voice to the group improvisations using space, texture, and form as they spontaneously develop these short group counterpoints. The Light Only Comes Sometimes is the debut album of the trio and it was recorded at Figure 8 Studios in Brooklyn in December 2020.

Often it is difficult to know who is playing and on which instrument. Wallace employs extensive piano preparations and creates a unique central sonic meeting place for the group, sometimes blending the lines between pianist, percussionist and string player. Dicker plays his percussive instruments gently and melodically and blends the sounds and pitches coming from the piano with the rhythms from his drum set. Dickens acts as a generator that keeps the trio moving, guiding each transition with a diverse array of percussive tools that complement and support the reverberations coming from the other instruments.

The Light Only Comes Sometimes features two improvisations – «Pillars» and «Tossed into the Brine». Both pieces highlight the close and open dynamics this trio of sonic explorers has established, the complete trust between the three bold improvisers, as well as the natural flow of the music. Dickens, Dicker and Wallace sketch spontaneously nuanced textures with complex, unpredictable, and constant-shifting harmonic structures, while keeping an inspiring tension and expanding their sonic palettes.

Eyal Hareuveni

Erica Dicker (vio), Eli Wallace (prep.p), Deric Dickens (perc)