To improvise is an art. Quite a few believe that you just go on stage and play whatever comes to mind. But improvisation is so much more thatn that. Improvisation is about listening, and reacting to what others do around you, and then to take the music in other directions. Therefore, improvisation is an art that can be difficult to force - it has to come naturally.

Going into the studio with the aim of recording an album based on improvisation is therefore a bold task. It can work well (like for example the Norwegian outfit Supersilent), or it can fall flat on its face. The Finnish Trio Gnomus almost makes it work. With a basis of drums, keyboards and guitar, they take us on a trip through three long pieces. They have plenty of time, it all develops very slowly. The choice of sounds is quite limited and they repeat themselves frequently, something which makes the record quite dire.

They build the music up to something which appears to be a kind of climax, but it appears more like an anticlimax because it sort of goes nowhere. It is more like three soloists who don’t manage to pull in the same direction. Well, perhaps I have misunderstood the concept, and the music is in no way bad, but I would not spend my hard-earned money on this, there is too much music out there which I’d rather explore.

© 2006 Tarkus Magazine

Back to index