Extraordinary homage to pioneering instrument-builder and improviser Hugh Davies (1943-2005), recorded in January 2008. Adam Bohman (prepared balalaika & amplified objects), Lee Patterson (amplified objects) and Mark Wastell (cello) - three improvisers heavily influenced by Davies's work - improvising alongside solo recordings Davies made in the 1970s. A virtual quartet where one voice is fixed, unable to respond.
Davies - who worked as Karlheinz Stockhausen's assistant in Cologne in the mid-60s, helping produce Mikrophonie I - returned to England and embarked on fertile experimentation with amplified egg-slicers, metal combs, tins, springs and "shozygs" (instruments built inside everyday containers). His approach was clear precursor to Bohman's work with Morphogenesis, Patterson's investigation of microsound, and Wastell's amplified textures.
The three musicians were given Davies's pieces three months in advance but chose to listen no more than three times, "as they wanted to leave plenty of room for spontaneity." Wastell returns to cello - the instrument he'd largely abandoned - because "it was the instrument he'd used on the dozen occasions that he performed with Hugh." As Dan Warburton writes in The Wire, the result is music where "Davies' raw sonic explorations are laid bare, with hyper-amplification of tiny gestures placing intense focus on the slightest motion or attack."
"The most striking thing about this CD is that Davies' own playing remains central to the music," notes one reviewer. "The other three players work out from his performance and expand the soundscape, but the agenda is clearly set by Davies." Sounds of indeterminate origin merge and joust in a tonal world of industrial dark corners and tortured acoustic playing. "Whether or not this is an illusory effect, the music does seem like an honest-to-goodness quartet."
An experimental way of paying tribute that Davies himself would have heartily approved. Essential listening for anyone interested in the history of amplified improvisation and homemade instruments.
