From the opening moments of this trio meeting, the intent is clear: a quick fade into a noise thicket of sound indicates strongly that this is not going to be a walk in the park. Even before the disc spins, in fact, the feeling is there. The title, quick-drop, suggests risk, free-fall, a one-time adventure in unknown territory. The cover image, as attractive as it is incomprehensible, turns out to be an assemblage photograph taken by Andrea Parkins, seemingly constructed at a hotel. Transience. a bit of alienation, new rules for familiar tasks.
Parkins met up with clarinetist Laurent Bruttin and bassist Dragos Tara in Switzerland in 2006, and quick-drop is the result. With electric accordion, sampler, effects and live processing, she is the only non-acoustic performer here. The session starts with a dizzying track, but then some familiar signposts begin to appear. Clarinet and double bass slowly etch a triangle into the slate wall. Vocalist Wanda Obertova appears on the third cut (then disappears until the seventh of the eleven tracks), serving as a guide, if without familiar language. In the end, quick-drop comes off as a travelogue, a diary written by a stranger with an aversion to nouns. Fellow journeyers are advised to set their concerns aside and enjoy the surroundings.
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Kurt Gottschalk 2008-07-30
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