Merzbow / Mats Gustafsson / Balázs Pándi

Although a meeting of three specialists in noise music from the electronic, improvised and Rock territories may promise an exercise in blasting cacophony. But given the extended length of the four tracks spread over two CDs here, a variety of inventive timbres is actually on tap.

Not that anyone would confuse Cuts Open for a baroque recital or an experiment in microtones, but it is an instance of genre stretching. Japanese electronic noisemaker Masami Akita known as Merzbow had previously fused his brutal sounds to sessions with Jamie Saft, but this is his first protracted interaction with players he’s traded licks with since 2013. Hungarian drummer Balázs Pándi is a product of the Rock world, but he has expanded his scope since he first recorded with Ivo Perelman. As for Swedish multi-reedist Mats Gustafsson, he’s moved confidentially into more ferocious sounds over the years, especially with The Thing Punk-Jazz unit.

There are points at which, especially at the climax of “He locked the Door”, the final track of the session, where thickening drones and jangling dissonance make it impossible to clearly i.d, individual instrumental timbres. But before that the buzzes, clashes, clangs and bellows often work themselves into recognizable shapes. Most distinctive are the kettle-drum-like bops that Pándi propels as markers in the improvisations, all of which hover around the 20 minute mark. While Gustafsson’s cleaner flute and airy fluteophone yelps are infrequently obvious, split tone saxophone breaths are more common. In fact rugged and distorted saxophone tone-animation is present throughout, especially when mixed with lip burbles that introduce tunes like “And we went Home”. But his most spectacular use of the large saxophone’s ability to propel wounded animal-like cries is on “He locked the Door”. Here Gustafsson uses power blowing to tear an individual hole in what otherwise would be an impenetrable sound mass. Surmounting with sheer voltage the others’ contributions, Merzbow uses ring modulator-like gonging as well as chain rattles and dial-twisting oscillations to bring variety to noise-electronics. While rarely is there enough space to allow Pándi’s cymbal sizzles or gong resonation as well as Gustafsson’s tongue slaps and treble tones to reach prominence his programming is more than monochordal. Extreme pitch identity is established on the first track when a stentorian build up results not only in synthesized tremors but the throbbing equivalent of ocean waves breaking against the shoreline. At the opposite pole, “And we went Home” contains a passage where relief from clanging cymbals and drum patterning takes the form of airy of whistles that suggest sparse tumbleweed pulsations rolling through the streets of a long-deserted ghost town.

Although there are points at which the droning connection among the trio members’ output become so immense as to be almost unbearable, overall there’s enough textural variety here to sustain following every twist and turn of the four-part program.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: CD 1: 1. I went down to Brother 2. And we went Home CD 2: 3. We went up with Mother 4. He locked the Door

Personnel: Mats Gustafsson (flute, fluteophone, baritone saxophone, live electronics and percussion); Balazs Pándi (drums and percussion) and Masami Akita AKA Merzbow (noise electronics and percussion)