In the linear notes that accompany the work, Mengis considers how the threshold for writing music is roughly the same for rendering a pencil sketch. Just as the artist suggests forms with minimal lines and shading, the composer creates engaging works from long notes, crescendos and other basic building blocks of composition. Whereas his previous work, Into The Bar, inflated these base elements and reveled in a game wherein they were released and found time and again, his second effort is less an exercise in tongue twisting, more a stage on which he and the other players show just how adept they are at employing and working within these conventions.
Here the acoustic instruments are mainly held in character, and the players work with the grain of their tones and timbres. Together they resist entanglement, and the listening experience, though still charged by energetic collisions and a certain electricity exuded by the exchanges, is almost entirely restful. A chamber tightness and formality characterizes the opener. The drumming of Lionel Friedli has a tidal quality, revitalizing the composition, which hinges upon the subtle interplay of the gruffness of Achim Escher's alto saxophone and the melodic approach of Mengis' trumpet. Taken as a whole, the versatile responses, coupled with subtle and effective use of meter, density, and dynamic balance confirms that as a collective the players are exceptionally attentive. Energy isn't so much expended in a transcendence, but, through meticulous affection and attention, a maintaining and constant metamorphosis of the group into itself.
From here, the tightly scored ensemble sections loosen into something of a free play, the energy level rising appropriately, while the forms nonetheless remain disciplined. In this state, tremoring percussive suites open up new vistas of sound, where a vast collection of elemental percussion, woodwinds, and brass instruments summon up calm or gathering storm as the mood takes them. Potentialities are continuously tapped, kept lively rather than served up as tepid resolutions, making Mengis' more composed foray no less an impressive showing of stamina and strength.
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