TL;DR is a new Australian, Melbourne-based cross-generational quartet led by the former artistic director of the Australian Art Orchestra, trumpeter, electronics player and composer Peter Knight, and featuring musicians who have never recorded with him before – bassist-vocalist Helen Svoboda, guitarist and electronics player Theo Carbo (who recorded before with Svoboda), and twenty years old drummer Quinn Knight (Peter Knight’s son). Too Long; Didn’t Read is the debut album of the quartet and is influenced by the soundscapes of Brian Eno, John Hassell, and The Necks.
Peter Knights says that the name of the quarter reflects its music, «music that is not trying to ’say’ anything, not telling you how to feel, but rather creating a space into which your own thoughts can drift». Too Long; Didn’t Read offers four distinct extended pieces, all titled after cloud formations, and all sketching minimal, groove-based, atmospheric soundscapes. Knight extends the sonic palette of his acoustic trumpet with extended breathing techniques, live signal processing, vintage delays, tape machines, and effects pedals. Svoboda, Carbo, and Quinn Knight ornament the deep grooves with nuanced rhythmic repetition and textural variation, and Svoboda’s soprano vocals add a sensual dimension, especially on «Cirrus».
TL;DR makes music for its own sake, engaging but elusive, crisscrossing between jazz and electronics, but defies categorization. The music is seductive and clever. It flows and floats with an organic, hypnotic rhythmic stream. It is layered with grooves that make you move, but it does not surrender easily to dance moves. It is improvised and feels urgent, but it was developed through repetition and iteration with live and electronic loops that set up repetitive grooves that overlap like rhythms in nature, and allow the listener to escape strict time and space sensibilities. And it is based on a strong, stimulating rapport between Knight and the younger Svoboda, Carbo, and Quinn Knight (who is Peter Knight’s closest collaborator in the last fifteen years) that keeps the music fresh and nurturing.
Eyal Hareuveni
Peter Knight (trumpet, electronics, live signal processing), Helen Svoboda (bass, voice), Theo Carbo (guitar, electronics), Quinn Knight (drums)
