Romain Perrot - Gerritt Wittmer - Franci — In Absence Of Song

Here is a smartly presented tape on Gerauschmanufaktur, with a long fold-out inlay featuring stark images of Perrot, Wittmer and Meirino. These are all names familiar to me (to varying degrees) and the short tape documents a live performance by the trio at Brooklyn’s End Of Tymes Festival, in 2013. The first side has that performance in full, whilst the second has a “Studio <<reverse-engineered>> version”; both come in at the nine-minute mark.

The actual live track begins with someone introducing the performance; I can’t make out what precisely is being said, but something along the lines of “…[someone] could not play tonight…instead, we…absence.”. Make of that what you will. This is perhaps the main issue with “Live at The End Of Tymes Festival, Brooklyn, 2013”: the introduction, inlay photos and audio suggest that a “performance”, as opposed to a simple “gig”, is taking place; but we have no idea what it entails. We’re left to imagine what might be occurring. The audio itself is essentially nine minutes of static feedback, building to a noisier crescendo. This climax is either very washy noise, or more fearsome textures transformed by a low-fidelity recording set-up. (Given some noises at the end of the track, it could be a handheld dictaphone.) Flitting in and out of this drone are whispers, speech, minor clatter, louder scrapes and thumps. It doesn’t amount to a whole lot. Thats no reflection on the performance, which must remain a mystery to me, but the recorded document brings little joy.
 
Given this, you would assume that “Studio <<reverse-engineered>> version, 2013-2014” would be a much more fleshed-out, solid affair and whilst it is, it still falls somewhat short. In what, I assume, is a studio-revisiting of the live recording (essentially a remix, if you will), the droning elements are largely backgrounded; with the once buried sounds of voice and junk given greater space and volume. This results in a few nice junk textures and vocal passages, as well as a greater sense of dynamics; culminating in a more powerful piece. However, whilst there is clearly some processing or construction occurring, its not really a dramatic transformation of the material.
 
This is an odd release, really. Certainly the three names attached to the live performance are recognisable and notable (which may, indeed, explain its release), but the recorded document itself is nothing too exciting; it hints at an interesting live experience which must remain enigma to us. The “studio version” - and we can’t be certain what precisely this entails - is almost a “beefed-up” retread of the live recording; not the radical reworking which the limitations of the source material might prompt. So, not a tape that brings a lot of glory to those concerned…
 
(N.B. After writing the above, I actually found a live video of the performance; belatedly revealing an interesting experience with, frankly, better sound…)