Reconstituted with treatments and contoured with synthesizer signals and programming, a distinct variant of creative music is created on Farahser by two Torontonians, drummer Nick Fraser and keyboardist John Kameel Farah. Initially recording a series of acoustic duo improvisations, Farah and Fraser manipulated and fragmented the results to bring certain textures forward, downplay others, and rework some with electronic interface.
Blurring the divergence between live and electronic textures and meandering among styles and genres, the tracks shake and stretch out, as formalist, percussive, constant, and intermittent timbres instantly arise or suddenly fade in a contrapuntal challenge. Constant drum rumbles and singular piano tones on “Twigs,” for instance, suddenly confront ratcheting drones that vibrate alongside keyboard clips until all dissolve into a polyphonic conclusion.
With measured piano chording and drum beats throughout, the voltage thickening regularly makes the interface that much more noticeable. “Dirge” is an instance of this, as wave-form crackles wash over regularized drum beats and processional piano patterns augment to heightened sequences alongside the processing.
Although the whizzing of these additional tones across the sound field helps define the ingenuity of the program, Fraser and Farah are clever enough to prevent the electronics, whether pointillist or overpowering, from superseding personal musical innovation. Synthesizer whooshes and other oscillations may be omnipresent, but their individual improvisational skills drive percussion motions, including tough riffs, pumps, and circular rotation or acoustic piano impressions that vary from sympathetic motif reconfigurations to dramatic timbral extensions, and confirm the humanity that exists alongside the programming.
Ken Waxman is a Toronto-based journalist who has written about improvised and other musics for many years. Many of his articles on music can be accessed at <www.jazzword.com>.