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Volume III: Red Rose Theatre, 2007​-​11​-​15

from Archive: Volumes I​–​V: 2005​–​2009 by The Seen

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Not necessarily ‘quiet’ music …

The Seen takes our ideas about quietness in music and turns them inside out. There are still, of course, relatively low decibel levels, and the unusual lineups help — this show from 2007 features solely double bass and laptops. But, more importantly, Mark Wastell’s rotating squad of players brings a diverse, often contradictory, set of practices to their ensemble meet-ups, jettisoning stock gestures in favour of a rugged, often abrasive approach to sound-making. Instead of tranquility and integration, there is tension and friction. Instead of forward motion, there is an unsettling, crab-like creep, only occasionally advancing. Indeed, the 40-odd minutes of this set aren’t so much a linear progression through time as two 20-minute slices of the same instant, viewed from different perspectives and laid one after the other.

… bass that swoops, tree with roots, you are going … somewhere …

With The Seen, everything is up for grabs. Even the act of listening — so sacrosanct in the world of improvisation — becomes problematized, for in such a tapestry of sound and silence how can one process what’s happening at any one moment? Yet this impossibility of total response provides opportunities to form clusters within the whole, that break apart and reform in different configurations as things develop. For listeners, too, there are possibilities for moments of both detailed focus and wider-scale immersion.

… within or behind or beyond

Mark Wastell’s role in this group is similarly enigmatic. As a player, he’s subject to the same forces and fluxes flowing through the rest of the collective. But he’s also the one in charge, with a supervisory role that many improvisers may find uncomfortable. True, every performance is different — different players, different sounds. But there’s also an underlying consistency that can’t be solely the result of a confluence of shared interests. I asked one musician involved how this happened. “Aah, now you want to peek behind the curtain!” he laughed, without explaining further. For me, Wastell is a spirit guide, illuminating a network of potential routes through the gloom. Any path can be taken. The journey begins again. — Paul Margree

credits

from Archive: Volumes I​–​V: 2005​–​2009, released November 27, 2018
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Mark Wastell: double bass
Dominic Lash: double bass
Joe Williamson: double bass
Matthew Lovett: double bass
Ashley John Long: double bass
Matt Davis: laptop
David Toop: laptop
Lee Gamble: laptop
Benedict Drew: laptop
Phil Durrant: laptop

Recorded in concert by Simon Reynell at the Red Rose Theatre, London on 2007-11-15.

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Confront Recordings : proudly publishing adventurous music since 1996.

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