Like the enchanted porridge pot Grimm’s fairy tales that can’t stop producing food, this is a madly generous double album: 198 duets for Clare Cooper’s traditional Chinese zither (guzheng) and Chris Abrahams’s ancient (1980’s) Japanese DX7 synth. Cooper is a Berlin based Australian improviser who also appears on John Butcher’s recent Somthingtobesaid ensemble album, while Abrahams is pianist with easygoing minimalists The Necks. But Necks fans beware – Abrahams’s heartbeat pulses, digital gargling and mutoid disco sci-fakery are a fierce proposition countered at every turn by Cooper’s non-oriental bowing and scraping. The approach is pretty much one clear idea per piece, which makes for great improvising. Track lengths vary from four seconds to a minute, though there is one eight minute monster, “Neutrino”, which demonstrates the principle of getting your sound perfect – in this case a two-note school – ruler – on – desktop buzz – jam plus a muffled, pumping beat – and then just repeating it.
My only quibble is Cooper’s adamant refusal to reference the history of her instrument. A couple of times rich guzheng-like tones are permitted to ring out, but mainly Cooper treats the zither as a neutral and handily portable sound source. What about that medieval twang thang? However, it’s good to see an album so fully thought through as an artwork Each “Germ Study” has it’s own accompanying drawing, many by fellow improvisers, and the resultant wall chart is warm and witty, a witness to Abrahams and Cooper’s community of friends and co-workers. Five years in the making, it’s a special release. My favourite of the 198 titles: Sting’s Doorbell” (46 seconds).
Clive Bell