Necks, Bishopsgate Institute

The Necks are an Australian trio of musical improvisers, who have for many years now evolved a fascinating - some would say revolutionary - style of music that is quite their own. 

Pianist Chris Abrahams, bassist Lloyd Swanton, and drummer Tony Buck create a seamless blend of electronic and acoustic music. Their sounds emerge spontaneously, yet with the sense of a deep and intimate musical interaction - they’ve been working together for 25 years now, after all.

Nothing about their performances is planned. Pieces begin with sounds from a single performer which slowly weave their way into and through rapt expressions from the other two. They don’t have solos, exactly, since the form of their music supersedes the divisions between solo and group performance. 

Each one of their long-form improvisations can take up to an hour to unfold, spiralling in intensity towards a climax that’s sometimes only a mirage, evaporating into space as soon as it arrives.

Even fans of new improvised music find their sound impossible to define, being neither jazz, exactly, nor ambient, nor trance, nor even the most minimalist kind of contemporary classical, though techniques from all of those disciplines are employed. It has a broad appeal among fans of all of those genres, however, and the group’s concerts sometimes have a meditative, even religious feel, as the audience shares both a deeply individual and collective kind of musical revelation. 

Since they’re based in Australia and only tour occasionally, hearing them recorded is usually the only option. It’s rewarding, but does require patience and concentration. To be there live, however, immersed in a crowd in their bewitching undulations of sound, is a mind-altering experience.