Pendulum is a solo album by the German bassist Eberhard Weber, recorded in Munich in the spring of 1993 and released by ECM that October. Weber plays everything himself on his customised five-string electric upright bass, building nine compositions of his own out of overdubs, loops and live improvisation. The emphasis falls on the writing: the effects carry melodies and harmonic movement, and the record works as a full portrait of Weber the composer.
Weber was born in Stuttgart in 1940, the son of a music teacher, and received a classical training that shaped his sense of structure. The electric upright has been his instrument since 1974, the year after he recorded his ECM debut The Colours of Chloë. From 1978 he made his work with Jan Garbarek a priority, and Garbarek once described him as a musician "who just happens to play the bass". Weber produced Pendulum himself between April and June 1993, with Jochen Scheffter as engineer, and wrote the liner notes. The cover was designed by Dieter Bonhorst and Maja Weber.
The key to the sound is an echo unit that stores what Weber has just played, so that he can call it back as a backdrop for the next line. In the opening Bird Out Of Cage looped figures and sudden runs rise over one another. Delirium sets rough, physical playing against a drone, while the meditative Silent For A While, at almost eight minutes, is built largely on harmonics. The other six pieces, the title track the longest among them at almost nine minutes, keep to the same method and to Weber's gift for a clear, singable line.
In his AllMusic review Scott Yanow praised Weber for avoiding "the use of his effects as gimmickry" and called the album "an introverted but accessible program". Tyran Grillo, writing on ECM Reviews, noted that Weber treats the bass "at times pianistically, at times chorally, and often as both at once". The material stayed in his concerts. In August 1994 he played the title track, Delirium and Silent For A While solo at the Théâtre des Halles in Avignon. ECM published that recital in 2021 as Once Upon A Time.
This is the CD edition, ECM 1518, first released in October 1993.
