Travel document: The Necks live and on record in 2023
A short visit to England last November enabled me to catch two concerts by The Necks on successive evenings, the first at Strange Brew in Bristol and the second at Kings Place in London. Since the one thing everyone knows about The Necks is that no two of their concerts are alike I had no problem with seeing them twice in a row, and indeed the two evenings were markedly different experiences. It had been over thirty years since I’d last been to a concert in Bristol, that one being Peter Hammill in 1992, so it was a pleasure to spend some time in that vibrant and culturally diverse city.
Much to my surprise Strange Brew was a standing venue, which was not something I’d expected to see at a Necks concert. The fact that the gig was sold out meant that the floorspace was very crowded. In accordance with my usual practice I got there early, giving me a good vantage point right at the front, but the stage was so low that I’m not sure how much people towards the back of the room would have seen. The good news was that there was a distinctly informal, almost clubby atmosphere in the room that night. I wasn’t taking notes, but from what I can recall The Necks responded to this vibe with a set light on introspection and heavy on the playful and the groovy.
Credit where it’s due – Great Western Railways managed to get me from Bristol to London in good time for the Evan Parker matinée event at Café Oto on the Sunday afternoon (more on that another time, maybe). Having spent a pleasant few hours hanging out there with friends, it was a short tube ride to Kings Cross for the second Necks concert of the weekend. Inevitably the atmosphere at Kings Place was more buttoned up than it had been at Strange Brew, but that didn’t stop pianist Chris Abrahams, bassist Lloyd Swanton and drummer Tony Buck from delivering two sets filled with shimmering beauty, gorgeous ensemble playing and extraordinary levels of telepathic understanding.
Those wanting a record of the live Necks experience may safely investigate any of their official live albums, although for my money an extra dimension is lent by unofficially circulating bootleg recordings, of which the 2002 Purcell Room and 2016 Stockholm concerts are particular favourites of mine. But if The Necks’ live performances see them stretching out in the format of two 40-45 minute fully improvised sets, recent studio recordings see them honing their craft in a different direction, into the realms of collage and synthesis.
Following 2020’s excellent Three, last year’s album Travel is another fine example of this tendency. I’m no expert on the trio’s current working methods, but from what I can gather they involve recording shortish improvs which are then subjected to various studio treatments, overdubs and processing. It’s an approach that pays repeated dividends in terms of the way these records sound, with the core instruments of piano, bass and drums pulled into a dark and mysterious environment where nothing is quite what it seems.
Perfectly suited to the double LP format, Travel consists of four side-long pieces that range in mood from quietly meditative to ominous and devotional, all of it energised by relentless forward motion. As ever with The Necks, the music is not quite jazz, not quite ambient and not quite industrial, yet contains elements of all three – a bold and uncategorisable mix that rapidly becomes spellbinding. Opener “Signal” twists and turns on the knifepoint of a repeated bass riff from Swanton, fuelled by Abrahams’ sparkling piano runs and Buck’s endlessly shifting percussion. As the tempo gradually increases, isolated organ motifs dart in and out of the soundfield.
On “Forming”, Abrahams’ piano initially evokes Keith Jarrett at his most beatific, becoming progressively more urgent over the treacherous deeps of Buck and Swanton’s rhythm section. “Imprinting” finds Buck laying trails of jangling percussion around Abrahams’ jazzy, laid-back electric piano, while “Bloodstream” closes out proceedings on an epic scale with celestial church organ and piano looming menacingly over waves of churning cymbals and tom-toms. Animated from the first minute to the last by restless creativity and fierce intelligence, Travel is a fascinating musical journey.