Abdelnour-Loriot-Meier-Niggenkemper

Projecting sustained inventive textures beyond supposed instrumental limits, an international quartet constructs improvisations where imagination surpasses classification and uniformity. Free form veterans the group consists of Lebanese-French alto saxophonist Christine Abdelnour, French-Japanese violist Frantz Loriot, French-German bassist Pascal Niggenkemper and Swiss drummer David Meier, with the final two also manipulating objects. Each musician has with other creators ranging from Scott Field and Christoph Erb to Magda Mayas and Flo Stoffner

Journeys rather than destinations, the rumbles and jumbles of timbres, intonations and resonance on the improvisations expose the acme(s) and base(s) of each instrument, with the transitions often measured in milliseconds. Additionally the use of extended techniques and so-called object excursions it’s often difficult to distinguish one instrumental textures from another.

Meier may be the most consistent player here. But even so the sounds he gets from his single bass drum move past solid shuffles and ruffs. Eschewing a steady beat his strategies encompass drum top slaps and pops, rim echoes and rolling undertones. Both string players’ output is as cursive and contrary as it is connected, with the violist’s arco extensions involving multi-string vibrations, intermittent tough glissandi and intense squeaky scrubs. Rarely string plucking, the bassist’s forward sweeps bring out sul ponticello strains as well as col legno slaps and at points he affixes a stick among the strings for added resonations. In contrast Abdelnour sometimes operates at the edge of soundlessness, although her reed respiration also involves strident, near-earsplitting barks, gulping slurps, thinning breaths and interludes where cadenced air is projected without key movements.

None of these actions arise in a vacuum however with string plinks mated with percussion rattles, concentrated reed bites evolving on top of idiophone shakes, and Niggenkemper and Loriot combing their strings sets at intervals for transverse concentrations. While some textures warble, others such as slide whistle-like chirps or an undifferentiated undulating drone can’t be linked to any one or any combination of instruments.

Eventually having worked through creative experimentation, the quartet bypasses an underlying  concentrated buzz. Exposing downward bass string slaps, signal processing-like viola bow swipes and drum pops, these eventually integrate into a horizontal sound dissolve even as reed vibrations join.

Two essays in creative sound conception, Et il y aura … suggests how to express aleatory and improvised methods along with frequent unexpected passages that keep the outcomes fresh and often startling.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1, De O à-0.67 2. Et il y aura …

Personnel: Christine Abdelnour (alto saxophone); Frantz Loriot (viola); Pascal Niggenkemper (bass and objects) and David Meier (bass drum and objects)