The Sealed Knot
and we disappear
Burkhard Beins Rhodri Davies Mark Wastell

The Sealed Knot:
Burkhard Beins    percussion and objects
Rhodri Davies       pedal harp and e-bow
Mark Wastell       double bass, bow & beaters

Total time:   38:30
Recorded in Biel, Switzerland, February 2007

Reviews

“The Sealed Knot is the trio of Burkhard Beins, Rhodri Davies and mark Wastell.  In the early 2000’s the group spanned the two key sites of Reductionist Improv: London and Berlin.  The musicians certainly cultivated dialogue between the cities, but, when I interviewed tham for The Wire around that time, they were already unhappy with tags such as Reductionism, lowercase improv or ‘the New London Silence’.  There was a sense that the music was moving too swiftly to be caught by such labels.

It was also, even then, often too abrasive for the various quietist tags to stick.  This harder, more outward-facing dimension of their work is strongly apparent in parts of ‘And We Disappear’, a single 40 minute piece recorded live in Switzerland in 2007.  While the early work betrayed an interest in contemporary composition - the spaciousness of Feldman, or the textural vocabulary of Lachenmann - the more recent work is drawn to slow development and long tones.

At the heart of the piece is a series of jarring high-pitched tones from Davies, working with an e-bowed harp, and a long answering sequence of double bass from Wastell.  Beins provides a sensitive, ever shifting setting for these sounds, housing them in an ambience that moves between recognisable percussion instruments and unidentifiable objects.  A feeling of communication through shared spatial and temporal awareness comes to dominate the listening experience.  The album doesn’t sound like three people engaged in virtuosic explorations of a particular instrumental vocabulary.  Instead these are collaborative sound makers, loosely in the tradition of AMM, or David Tudor’s realisations of John Cage, forging music through whatever means meet the needs of the moment.  While electronic music is an influence, it’s the joint involvement with the tactile demands of objects and instruments that gives this music its urgency.”
Will Montgomery, The Wire

“A fine live set, almost three year ago now, from a Swiss festival with Burkhard Beins (percussion, objects), Rhodri Davies (pedal harp and ebow) and Mark Wastell (double bass, bow, beaters). As in some of their previous work, one almost has the sense that the performance was composed, so cohesively does it play out. Beins is a master of injecting almost-rhythms into the mix 9perhaps abetted by the aforementioned beaters?) and the whole sound has a delightful sense of both space and propulsion, one instrument segueing into another, sending matters tumbling along. Wastell contributes some wonderful arco work, twined with Davies' ebow, getting into this luscious quasi-drone state, Beins' dry cymbals adding just the right amount of sandiness.   It builds to a brutal roar about 10 minutes from the end then subsides into a gentle ambiance of bells and soft plucks. A stunning recording and, incidentally, approachable enough to qualify as one of those you might foist on a friend who's expressed interest in the genre.”                              Brian Olewnick, Just Outside

“The Sealed Knot are the trio of Burkhard Beins, Rhodri Davies and Mark Wastell. Without getting up from my seat to check I think I am right in saying they had released four albums before this one over what must now be a decade of playing together, albeit it infrequently. In fact, this new recording, suitably titled and we disappear was recorded at one of the group’s last concerts playing together back in early 2007. A couple of days after this recording, which was made in Switzerland I caught the group play what was their last gig together, over in Dublin. I wrote about that one here. The good news is that they are set to reform in January for a gig organised by Simon at Café Oto in London.  The new group will see all three musicians playing either slightly or dramatically different instrumentation, so maybe this album will be the last chance we have to hear the trio as we have come to know them. In 2007, The Sealed Knot were probably the last exponent of the acoustic end of the so-called New London Silence group of musicians that rose into people’s attentions at the turn of the millennium. Later groups involving the same musicians included electronic elements, often with Wastell utilising his amplified textures, but like IST, Assumed Possibilities or Quatuor Accorde before them the ‘Knot relied heavily on the simple acoustic possibilities of the instrumentation to hand, and the close understanding between the trio.

Back in 2007 Beins played percussion, Davies harp (though electronic accompaniments, particularly eBows were a firm part of his set-up then) and Wastell double bass, an instrument he didn’t play anywhere near enough in my opinion. The Sealed Knot, by this stage were a ridiculously tight unit. The timing of the group, the understanding between its members was incredible, maybe as good as I have ever heard. Perhaps as a result of this symbiotic relationship the music they made had begun to rest heavily on rhythms and circular patterns, one member of the group repeating a sound and the others clicking into place with it, helping the music revolve in small interlocking circles. Sorry for the highly personal childhood flashback here, but at this stage the group reminded me of Freddy Phillips backing group for the opening titles of Trumpton.

and we disappear captures a characteristically sprightly performance from the group. The music contains little silence but plenty of space and delicacy. Although much more happens, and changes in shape and form come far more quickly I often think of Morton Feldman’s compositions when listening to this group at this point in their existence. There are the same irregular rhythms, the same attention to the quality of sounds and the way they decay, and that chamber music feel of acoustic instruments intertwining via simple systems to create little fragments of subtle beauty. Oddly though I am also reminded of techno music often as I listen to this recording. There are plenty of moments when a sound, or combination of sounds are left to run, usually in some kind of cyclical pattern, only for a further sound to suddenly be added to the musical system, like an 808 bass drum suddenly kicking in on an acid house track. That is how tight, yet excitingly sudden the music feels. On occasions there are new, more surprising elements added in. Davies’ use of the eBow brings something new compared to previous albums. One particular extended heavy tone takes the music off somewhere else, but his sudden cessation of its use clicks the music straight into a new rhythmic circle, the response of the musicians to the sudden removal of this sound really quite remarkable.

If you know the music of The Sealed Knot, if you purchased Live at the Red Hedgehog, the preceding album that was recorded just a few months before this new disc then you know what to expect from the group. There is little on and we disappear that we have not heard from them before, but that matters not. Great music is great music, and when a trio develop the degree of understanding apparent on this CD then I can lap this stuff up all day. However it is easy to see why the group chose to lay off playing together for a while after this last string of concerts though, and why the reformed group will play with very different instrumentation. All three of these musicians are renowned for constant change, and for not resting on their musical laurels. Perhaps as the group got tighter, and the music of The Sealed Knot became more recognisable things just got too easy for them, and rather than slip into a routine of regular appearances on the European festival circuit doing much the same thing each time it felt right to break things off and follow other threads for a while. While I support this move entirely it does no harm in my opinion to have this recording of the group in full flight spinning in my CD player right now. and we disappear is everything we expect it to be, gorgeously attractive, acutely sharp and a fantastic example of what can be achieved through the close interpersonal understanding between improvising musicians. A fine release indeed. Looking forward to what happens next.”                                                                                                                                            Richard Pinnell, The Watchful Ear