TON meets Sarah Davachi

Expanding the unique niche it has designed for itself that intertwines improvised and interpretative music, Köln-based TON add church organ textures to its intricate trio configuration. This isn’t a pivot towards groove though. Instead Germans, trombonist Matthias Muche and bassist Constantin Herzog and Etienne Nillesen from the Netherlands, who plays an extended snare drum, combine with Canadian composer/performer Sarah Davachi for a single track that finds a place for the band’s experiments with concentrated drones and fixed media among the seemingly interminable sounds created by Davachi.

Designed to emphasize gradual and languorous variations in tempos, tones and textures the intonation from Davachi’s organ washes often makes it seem as if the result is an open-ended drone. While still mostly a solid mass, careful listening reveals that almost infinitesimal variations are worked into her exposition, often depending on the pressure, or lack thereof emanating from the instrument’s ranks and stops.

About one-third of the performance passes when brighter pitches pull back to confirm that the narrative is also propelled by portamento trombone slurs, rotating drum top tension and nearly inaudible string scrubs. A couple of silent hiccups during the piece confirm that even when contrapuntal textures are suggested by a trio member, the volume of buzzes emanating from Davachi’s keyboard means most of these timbres are more sensed than heard.

Even as ecclesiastical suggestion multiply as the piece heads towards the climax, a slight opening of textures slackens the narrative enough so that brass blats and mouthpiece osculation become less distant. After a crescendo of sorts reconfirms program’s the jittery pulsations, literal church bell pealing allows the other sounds to fade to silence.

Definitive in its design as ambient microtonality – and attaining the musical aims of the quartet –  a few unexpected tonal shifts could have created a more vibrant performance.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1.  At Kunst-Station Sankt Peter Köln

Personnel: Matthias Muche (trombone); Sarah Davachi (pipe organ); Constantin Herzog (bass) and Etienne Nillesen (extended snare drum)