The canon of solo improve accordion albums isn’t a large one…in fact, this writer is unable to think of a single entry in such a list, aside from Anthrazit, which, as far as I can tell, is the debut solo recording from Ute Völker. Völker, hails from Wuppertal, as does Free Elephant, and she’s appeared on the label before, as a part of Frutas Azules on their disc Partita Radicale, but, with a scant discography featuring a handful of group recordings over the past few years, Völker, despite the novelty of her instrument in an improvisational context, is hardly a well-recognized name.
While she largely avoids extended technique and deconstructionist aesthetics, Völker’s accordion rarely strays into very familiar territory. There are melodic fragments, seeming almost accidental, that surface during Anthrazit, and while shadesof more conventional music may be present in such bits, they’re typically being . Völker concentrates often on the multi-voiced drone of her instrument, its output waxing and waning with the artificial respiration of its bellows. This technique is most striking when used within the instrument’s lower registers, at which point Völker is able to coax downright scary sounds from her squeezebox. Her drones tend to twist slowly, punctuated by the silences necessary for the filling of the accordion’s bellows, their timbre a dense, but brittle groan. Völker isn’t entirely dependent on her instrument’s reedy drones, however, and some of the album’s best work avoids them completely. “Gabbro” opens with something like the musical equivalent of stop-motion photography, with undulating sound chopped into tiny segments, their shifts in tone becoming stuttered movement through the scale. As the track progresses, longer notes are permitted to seep through, but it’s largely an exercise in terseness and the dissection of sound. Anthrazit often moves in gentle waves, though Völker makes use of the rich dissonance of which the accordion is capable, and isn’t above the use of dense cacophony.
Critics have been largely appreciative of Völker’s work in a group context, though this disc seems to have been issued with relatively little fanfare. It’s a shame, since Völker proves an imaginative and capable improviser, and while Anthrazit might be a but too much accordion for some ears, the disc goes a long way in proving that the instrument has a rich and diverse potential in the realm of improvised music.
