Treen

A bagatelle of  Northern European expression, Kaikō is a trio disc unafraid of blending advanced improvisation with aggressive rawness. It consists of Danish alto saxophonist Amalie Dahl, known for her work in (Exit) Knarr and Superspreder; Lithuanian pianist Gintė Preisaitė, who has performed with Toshimaru Nakamura; and German drummer Jan Philipp who has worked with Jannis Carbotta. Besides Philipp’s percussion, the other two also manipulate so-called objects during the four tracks.

While the trio doesn’t neglect keyboard pounding, reed screeds and intermittent crashes, shakes, strums and other percussive augmentations, Kaikō has instances of metallic grind, but there are equally tempered with adept extemporaneous details. Although less than 32½ minutes in length enough pivots and add-ons are expressed on the disc that the time frame is sufficient.

Among those featured are ratcheting clangs, bell rattles, steel-drum-like wobbles and metronomic key stopping, alongside pinched, altissimo reed vibrations. While Dahl’s consistent overblowing and bellicose squawks are upfront most of the time, they also cunningly mock and prevent any turns towards formalism in the form of measured touches from Preisaitė and tick-tock cadences from Philipp. Additionally no matter how often aims towards pressurized discordance is emphasized, companion motifs suggests a scintilla of melody lurks somewhere in the background.

With Kaikō Treen has proven itself able to innovate and maintain interest during foreshortened sequences. The next challenge will be to see how the members’ ideas can be adapted to a more extended form.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Hylē 2. Kinetic 3. Ridenuos 4. Kaikō

Personnel: Amalie Dahl (alto saxophone and objects); Gintė Preisaitė (piano and objects) and Jan Philipp (drums and percussion)