After 2005's Norwich some were ready to write-off AMM as past their prime and treading water, but this new concert recording shows that not to be the case. Veterans Tilbury and Prevost are here joined by John Butcher on tenor and soprano saxophones, and the resulting mix shows that they are still capable of making careful, beautiful and coherent music.
Most of the disc is on the quiet side, with Tilbury offering reverberant chords and clusters while Butcher whines, burbles and hums alongside. Prevost sticks mostly to bowed metal, with none of the trademark hyper-speed drumming of years past. When things do get a bit more lively, as on the last track "Conduit", they never threaten to boil over, instead gently slipping back into simmering quietude. Occasional faint clicks and bumps attract the ear, and Prevost in particular seems to be moving forward and backward in the sound-field, one moment very present, the next hanging far off within the room reverberation. The stops and starts contain the barest hint of tension, of waiting for the 'what next', but never giving the feeling that these gentlemen don't know where to go next.
Within all of this there is a feeling of forward momentum, of speaking their piece in a considered manner, and it's a joy to listen to.
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Jeph Jerman 2009-02-19
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