Olivia Moore and Adam Fairhall

Francis Comyn/Adam Fairhal
Metalurgia
Confront Core 62

Perhaps it could be called the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde effect or maybe related to Superman transformed into his Bizarro twin, but UK keyboardist Adam Fairhall projects such opposite musical identities on these duet sessions that they could be attributed to two separate persons. Although both involve Manchester-based partners, Fairhall’s antithetical instrument choice reflects the divide. On Triangles, Fairhall stick to accordion and partners local violinist Olivia Moore for 11 tunes that owe as much to the American Old Timey and British ballad tradition as improv and Jazz.

Meanwhile Metalurgia finds Fairhall dividing his playing among prepared electric piano, toy piano, prepared toy piano and grand piano insides. His associate is  drummer/percussionist Francis Comyn and the nine tracks are fully in the realm of free form improvisations expressed in an alliance of clunky tones and electrified vibrations. Fairhall’s playing partners have included Johnny Hunter, Tom Ward and David Butrchill. Comyn has worked with Phil Durrant  and Michael Perrett. Meanwhile Cooke divides her sound making among folk, improv, pop and Carnatic music, working with everyone from Mukesh Jhadav and Jean Toussaint to Matthew Bourne and Paul Heaton.

Some of Triangles’ tracks like “Brickyard Joe” and “Maggie Meade” seem to be reminiscent of the 1960s Folk Revival with Moore’s squeaky fiddle glissandi and Fairhall’s squeeze box pumps shaking and sliding as if country reels and hoary ballads are part of their make up. Yet even there and especially on the extended “Darling Cora” – which is about as traditional folksy as one can be – other inferences are prominent. Tension is released when the familiar melody is revealed at the end, but before that the strained fiddle lines with string swiping variations were set up by a bellows-heavy jittery accordion continuum.

At the same time Moore’s interests in Indian music are manifested in other tracks, but mixed with rhythms that owe as much to eastern Europe as east Bengal, with almost notated lyrical glissandi stacked up against measured bellows-extensions from the accordion with its tremolo cries. In fact a piece like “Madhukauns” seems to be where the chromatic meets the Carnatic with the exposition advancing in swift strains that move up the scale. Meanwhile the title tune boomerangs from multi-string intensity to emotional projections from the violinist as it’s extended with an accordion ostinato. This blend of east and west also illuminates “The Song of the Swan” where squeezed accordion drones suggest Indian percussion as do some stretches of the violin’s lower strings, until a dual shift to the Occidental brings out the lyricism that could fit a pop ballad, until the underlying tremolo stops give way to a string reprise of the head.

If western timbres and those from the subcontinent intermingle on Triangles, then outer space flashes and 21^st Century quirkiness are brought to the forefront during Metalurgia. With Comyn’s collection of idiophones resonating and reflective multiple timbres while Fairhall’s toy piano is treated not only as a legitimate music maker but also as a percussion source, the interface is tougher and pressurized. But there are also interludes which are as languid as they are leathery,

The most extended variation of this is on the concluding “Invar”, where the stopped strings of the acoustic piano integrate with drum rumbles and cymbal vibrations to surge forward until crisscrossed with a contrapuntal melody. That line is built up from toy piano keyboard clunks and equivalent wooden idiophone processes only to be nearly subsumed by metallic crashes.

The key to the interface as expressed on consecutive tracks like “Tumbaga” and “Magnalium” is how creatively friction from the repeated pressurized motifs remain vibrating even after the tones have been sounded. In the first it’s the case of narrowing toy piano key clips and drum vibrations to hover and stick. On “Magnalium” it’s the affiliations between pedal point inner piano drones and low-pitched bass drum pops. Both affiliate into a concentric exposition that excites the keyboard strings with the same power that Comyn brings to percussion patterning.

Fairhall’s use of the  toy piano’s unique resemblance to xylophone raps coupled with Comyn’s moves between woody idiophone echoes and alloy induced gong and bell cracks make for distinct expositions throughout. Sometimes the timbres move past the instrumental limitations as reflective spatial echoes add to the overall presentation.

Should a track such as “Nimonic 8” with its martial drum rolls and repeated cymbal tremors suggest one path, then others like “Duralumin” use Fairhall’s wooden key reflections and pealing idiophone additions to emphasize a jiggly melody that speeds up to the end.

A blindfold test may not reveal Fairhall’s identity or that both performing persona exhibited here are from the same person. However alongside his duo partners, he’s demonstrated his adaptability and multi-talents, mono-and multi-instrumentally.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Triangles: 1. Carnatic Stream 2. Brickyard Joe 3. Triangles 4. Adder in the Gorse Bush 5. Darling Cora 6. Five Holy Wells 7. Madhukauns 8. The Song of the Swan  9. Malkauns Rose 10. Georgia Cabin on Google Images 11. Maggie Meade

Personnel: Triangles: Olivia Moore (violin) and Adam Fairhall (accordion)

Track Listing: Metalurgia:1. Megallium 2. Duralumin 3. Inconel 4. Tumbaga 5. Magnalium 6. Ferrochrome 7, Nimonic 8. Ashtadhatu 9. Invar

Personnel: Metalurgia: Adam Fairhall (prepared electric piano, toy piano, prepared toy piano and grand piano insides) and Francis Comyn (drums and percussion)