Dominic Lash/Rachel Musson/Phil Durrant/Steve Noble

An unusual group configuration with one musician not playing his usual instrument, any way you cut it TRIM is distinctive Free Music. Hushed at some points to fit the expected definition of Free Improv, but alive with Free Jazz aggressive elsewhere the four selections feature experienced UK improvisers tenor saxophonist Rachel Musson, percussionist Steve Noble, Phil Durrant’s modular synthesizer and Dominic Lash playing guitar instead of his customary double bass.

With Lash’s filigree guitar buzzing or gentling slides staying in the treble clef, it’s Durant’s voltage vibrations and Nobel’s drum clunks that create basso textures along with Musson’s low-pitched smears and tongue stops. That’s doesn’t stop anyone from also projecting altissimo reed cries, ascending synthesizer screeches or taut percussion and cymbal rattles however. Lash’s fingerpicking occasionally move up the guitar neck to create a prism of widener tones. At points reed slurs operate in unison with string licks; at other stopped breaths meet synthesized timbral stabs. Still Noble’s bell-like slaps and overall pacing plus Durrant’s mechanized oscillations keep each track balanced.

Nearly the same length alone as the other tracks combined “In Which They” is TRIM’S extended showpiece. Introducing novel sounds from steel pan-like strokes, gurgling reed flattement and the most upfront electronic wriggles into the mix, by midpoint the quartet reaches a zenith of suspended tension. Hard reed bites, oscillating tonal hisses and chicken-scratching guitar lines create a final sequence that expresses linear story-telling without neglecting the choppy percussion and clarion warbles that made the track – and this session – individual. Looking for an instance of superior up-to-date free improvisation? Here it is.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. This Is Why 2. Rather With Themselves 3. In Which They 4. Much Of This.

Personnel: Rachel Musson (tenor saxophone); Phil Durrant (modular synthesizer); Dominic Lash (guitar) and Steve Noble (drums, cymbals and percussion)