SWOD
Sekunden
TOWERBLOCK041
City Centre Offices 2007
09 Tracks. 41mins04secs

While Swod deviate little from the blueprint laid down on their first full-length effort, their ability to trim their music back to the essentials so as to arrive at a simple, eloquent statement remains firmly entrenched and effective. Similar to an artist who purposefully rejects any vibrant colors so to focus on shades of grey, Oliver Doerell and Stephan Wohrmann achieve an appropriate evening austerity on Sekunden. The piano, as the primary focus, is quietly ominous and melancholic, shaded lightly by electronics which add melodic elaboration on themes, scratchy stridulations, dry rattling, and, on ocassion, abstracted twittering.

Individual works are finely compact and move swiftly in unison. Ja and Exit in particular, manage to achieve a close proximity through shared textures, complementary phrasing, and consensual dynamics. This doesn’t always prove the case, however. With certain tracks, a substantial internal agreement is not achieved, and no momentum, no impetus is to be found.

Although no small number of pieces work with a purity of tone, softened only by a slight burr of electronics, others take on a stronger rhythmic dimension, with percussive clicks bubbling up from deep in the mix to drive a piece forward with bravado. In fact, despite the fact that the duo work with a limited palette, and although they certainly play a secondary role, electronics and field recordings are used rather efficiently. As a result, the group shifts in tempo and, on the odd occasion, styles are made to seem all the more ingrained.

3.3/5

Swod | City Centre Offices
Buy: CD | iTunes