The credentials attached to Thomas Strønen are
pretty impressive. Born in 1972, he is one of the founding
members of Anglo-Norwegian avant-jazz ensemble Food
with Iain Bellamy, has worked with the likes of Evan
Parker, Tomasz Stanko, Ernst Reijsjeger, Christian Wallumrød
or Trygve Seim to name
but a few, and is also an active member in both the
Maria Kannegaard Trio and Parish, a quartet he founded
with Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson. Last year, Strønen
released an album with Supersilent
keyboard player Ståle Storløkken as Humcrush
on Rune Grammofon, yet, Pohlitz is his first
solo release.
Here, Strønen leaves behind his instrument of
predilection, the drums, to investigate a far wider
range of percussive sounds and develop a series of intricate
compositions with clear emphasis on the musical aspect
of his work. If the setting of this album is resolutely
experimental and feeds on Strønen’s background
in improvised work, the result is a fascinating, and
surprisingly accessible, collection of compositions
which evokes in turn traditional oriental Gamelan music,
which serves as basis for this album, African percussions,
and the work of Pierre
Bastien or that of Steve Reich. Although there is
a great unity of tone across the album, Strønen
devises eight very different pieces here. Working with
sampled bells, gongs and prepared piano, Strønen
then uses electronic equipment to process this first
layer and continues to build up his compositions. The
result is extremely sedimented and colourful, with both
acoustic and electronic affecting the spirit of these
tracks in different ways. From the incandescent rhythms
of Heterogeneous Substances or Ingenious
Pursuits to the more delicate assemblages of Lavoisier
or Mutti, Strønen constantly affects
the mood of his compositions by playing with slight
sonic variations, often only perceptible by listening
closely.
Strønen works at microscopic level, conscious
of capturing the smallest particles of sound and use
them to make the silences in between notes resound as
loud as the notes themselves. Although the pace slows
down slightly on E… Quilibrium and Mutti,
there is no respite as such to be found anywhere. Strønen
creates a radical sweeping soundtrack that appears at
once terribly compact and dense and incredibly vast
and sparse. Elements of electro-acoustic regularly collide
with frenetic sonic sentences to generate subtle emotional
moments.
Pohlitz is at once intense and fragile, and
has so much to offer that it is difficult to appreciate
the full extend of Thomas Strønen’s work,
however this is undeniably the charm of this record,
as it appears almost entirely new, yet so utterly familiar,
even after repeated listen.
4.8/5 |
