The Necks — Vertigo

The follow up to 2013's highly acclaimed 'Open' finds the Necks drawing on their touring experiences over the last two years to deliver a more tense and shadowy set that showcases yet another side to their superlative improvisational chemistry. The departure from the releases of the last few years is signalled immediately as the trio forgo the slow build up from minimal elements to instead plunge the listener straight in with a drone of reverberating piano strings and skittering keys from Chris Abrahams. Sartre memorably described vertigo not as the fear of falling but the anguished feeling that we might throw ourselves into the void. There's something consonant in this idea with The Necks trademark use of restraint amid the infinite possibilities their collective virtuosity affords them . Any one of the trio could at any moment throw themselves off the narrow path snaking through an hour long improvisation. Tony Buck's percussion, very prominent throughout the piece seems almost to play the role of teetering over the edge. His occasional bursts and clusters of cymbals hint at a precipitous descent only for the other two players to steady the ship once more.

Vertigo deploys a fuller, deeper sound than its predecessor. Lloyd Swanton's bass lays down long passages of underlying drone and throbs while electronics also make an appearance adding more textural refinement around the near ever present piano. Around the twenty minute mark the density of the sound thins out to a passage of sparse organ triads and minimal electronics that seem to tip-toe around the listener. But just as you may be finding your feet our imaginary tight-rope walker begins to shake and wobble once more; a rumbling low end emerges as strange scrapes and jangles from what sounds like the inside of Abrahams piano play off against more abstract percussive contributions. If any comparison could be made with the trio's previous releases it might be with the double disk 'See Through' and 'Mosquito', if only for the prominent use of layering and more abstract percussion.

At the thirty minute mark a leap into the void; short frantic bursts of percussion and strings and we arrive at a different iteration of the improvisation. Layered drones punctuated by short bursts of drum, wooden percussion or inside piano vie for attention with more subtle electronic or organ textures and perhaps even a bit of Swanton's electric guitar. This more textural approach to their sound and the interplay between the three players as they blend and withdraw each contribution is a marked departure from 'Open' and the recent live performances I witnessed in London. It's an approach that has always been part of their repertoire and is a staple of Abrahams solo records; but to my ears 'Vertigo' is the most texturally centred record the group have produced for at least fifteen years.

Somewhat bucking the trend of the preceding forty-five minutes the record fades out in a strange swirling mass of scraped strings, bass throbs and percussive rattles leaving us forever teetering on the brink.

It's sometimes a little easy to give The Necks records high marks, but Vertigo isn't just a continuation of their previous releases or a translation of recent live work into a studio setting. It manages to do both of those things while adding novelty, difference and a sense of renewal for a group on its 18th album of a career spanning over twenty-five years. They are at the height of their powers.