Contraption

Bark! is a free electro-acoustic improvisation trio consisting of Rex Casswell on electric guitar, percussionist Phillip Marks, and sampler artist Paul Obermayer. The latter is also one half of the duo Furt, who had already released four albums, including two on Evan Parker's Psi label, plus the Spin Networks project billed to fORCH, a Furt-plus-guests improv extravaganza. Compared to Furt's impossibly dense sampler battles -- however methodically organized they may be -- Contraption feels lighter and more welcoming. In the triangular dialogues between guitar, drums, and sampler, the musicians allow room for silence to play an active part. It does not make the music any less intense or demanding, but it emphasizes a different kind of intensity, one that is fueled by interaction, instead of saturation (Furt's usual m.o.) or tension-and-release (the m.o. of many other free improvisers). Another interesting point of comparison between Contraption and Obermayer's other group: this album eschews Furt's sonic marathons for short pieces (nothing crosses the nine-minute barrier). Casswell's approach to the guitar, while acknowledging the influence of Derek Bailey and John Russell, also has a trashier dimension. Marks' drumming is typically avoiding any kind of stable rhythm, discoursing with the other instruments instead of backing them. Obermayer's bank of samples includes lots of samples from other improvisers, which tend to blur distinctions between real and virtual musicians, the saxophone in "Mr Pointy" being a good example of how far Obermayer can manipulate such samples to give them new life, like some computer-age Dr. Frankenstein. If a couple of pieces seem to lack character, the album as a whole displays tight interplay and offers some exciting playing. ~ Francois Couture|