Australian cult trio The Necks established its own, singular, immersive, not entirely avant-garde, nor minimalist, nor ambient, nor jazz, democratic aesthetics many years ago. Disquiet is the twentieth studio album of in its 39 years of work (The Necks also released six live albums and two studio collaborations with Underworld and Swans), and it expands its unique sonic universe across three discs and more than three hours of hypnotic, labyrinthine, patient intensity. Clearly, Disquiet is a bold, disquietening statement of The Necks about today’s short attention economy.
The album was recorded at Rancom St Studios in Botany (a suburb of Sydney). And features four extended, genre-defying free-improvised pieces meticulously and collectively recorded and sculpted by drummer-guitarist Tony Buck, keyboard player Chris Abrahams, and bassist Lloyd Swanton. The Necks, as usual, do not tell what instruments were used.
The Necks insist that there is no particular listening order prescribed. Each piece is articulated with restrained elegance, textural depth, subtle tonal shifts, slowly evolving motifs, hypnotic pulses, and with microscopic focus. Each piece has its own exploratory, transcendental spirit, experimental edge, and its own way of blurring and stretching the sensibility of time.
The first piece, the 57-minute «Rapid Eye Movement». sounds like a dreamy, peaceful, and cosmic early morning raga with its ripple-like, stubborn, repetitive motifs. The 74-minute «Ghost Net», after the abandoned or discarded fishing net that continues to drift in the ocean, indiscriminately entangling and killing marine life, revolves around an infectious, repetitive, propulsive rhythmic pattern that induces a psychedelic, ritualist atmosphere, slowly ornamented with more rhythmic detail. The breezy «Causeway» flirts with a sensual, uplifting, and almost gospel-ish vibe, led by Abrahams’ piano. This expansive, immersive journey ends with the 32-minute «Warm Running Sunlight», which deepens this spiritual vibe with its gentle, dreamy-meditative ripples.
Eyal Hareuveni
Tony Buck (drums, percussion, guitar), Chris Abrahams (organ, piano, electric piano), Lloyd Swanton (double bass, electric bass)
