Michael Doneda, Urs Leimgruber, Keith Rowe - The Difference Between a Fish
(Potlatch)
The Difference Between a Fish is a meeting of legendary AMM guitarist Keith Rowe with French saxophonist Michel Doneda and Swiss saxophonist Urs Leimgruber. Taken from two separate German radio recordings in Aachen and Bremen, the disc consists of two extended improvisations, "The First Part" and "The Third Part." Doneda describes his own music as "vibrating the air," and such an expression is quite apt in reference to the trio's work on this disc.
Rowe, known already as an innovative and iconoclastic guitarist who left behind any and all conventional ideas and technique long ago, plays little that could easily be attributed to the guitar by a blindfolded listener. His sonic palette of clicks, scrapes, and whirs lurks in the background of the music much of the time, though, much of the time, due to the music's low volume, it seems as though Doneda, Leimgruber, and Rowe are each in the background of a sonic painting with no foreground. This allows for a more even listening experience in which sounds need not be loud to be startling and the instruments come together easily to create a cohesive whole. Rowe's work tends to be more ambient in nature; often his sounds are the base off of which the two saxophonists propel their improvisations. Tentative, sonorous tones from the saxophones snake their way into Rowe's more rough-edged work, with distant calls and yelps heard in between. There's little noise that the microphones don't pick up, so everything is heard, every breathy expulsion of sound, every minute click, every wavering, miniscule note. This leads for little room for anything out of place, and each musician does an excellent job of staying within the confines that seem have been set before the performances. Though the temptation to increase in volume may have been great, Doneda, Leimgruber, and Rowe manage to create a sense of almost scary tension and intensity that relies not on volume and power, but a more delicate balance that allows for nothing in the way of quick corrections, pulling back, or hiding deep in the mix.
The two performances captured on this CD differ little, and it's sometimes easy to feel as though the duration of the disc could have been halved, but, given the correct environment and mindset, The Difference Between a Fish can be a very rewarding and captivating recording. Just remember that power isn't all wattage and brawn, and sometimes the quiet sounds are the ones that garner the ear's most rapt attention.
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