Sit

It requires a special mood to partake of a Necks concert.  I had it once before in the Street Theatre and missed it this evening in Holy Trinity.   But it was deeply interesting to see how three very capable musicians can go from nil to intense to nil again over 75mins and be authentic and interesting.  And they were.   I came in 5 mins into the concert, but it was just starting.  No bass yet and sparse piano and African percussion.  Over the next hour the piano went from simple but satisfying major then minor pentatonics, then some inserted semitones and unison octaves and complex minor harmonies.  The drums added steady, regular cymbals and perhaps more, always with that afro percussion and bass went from bowed long notes to immensely busy RH pizz of octave note and joining slides and similar.  Ultimately, all back to nil.  Of course you feel the movements up and down, the changes in harmony and busy-ness and urgency and I was particularly fascinated by the back and forth flow over the underlying movements.  It's a time of envelopment, of engulfment.  It's also a massively successful musical project here and overseas and good on them for that.  I may not have been in that mood that time, but I can only admire the project.

The Necks are Chris Abrahams (piano), Lloyd Swanton (bass) and Tony Buck (drums).