Noise, nurtured by an instigator, creeps judiciously out of a processor. It's barely there, yet so magnified in focus. Silence takes on a massively contrasting role. That single note plucked from the bass string, again a few seconds later and then again, falls through the electronic shards that float so lightly. Weight density in relation to auditory interpretation forms a big crux of Swiss bassist Christian Weber's new CD 3 Suits & A Violin. Sound translates into physics, as the bassist, joined by Hans Koch (bass clarinet, saxophones and electronics), Michael Moser (cello), Martin Siewert (guitar, lap steel and electronics) and Christian Wolfarth (drums), propel fragments of acoustic blurts into an atmosphere of sound waves pitched at high frequencies, modulated preciously. The combined effect produces a fluctuating texture that alternates between hallowed space, void of breath but full of echo and crammed quarters buzzing with an amalgam of voice. Though varied in density, the album holds on to a strong singular sentiment, providing a pleasurable constant. The sound opens up at the end of "Frogmouth" with a muffled staccato, like wind in a microphone that conjures the distant vestiges of a phantom battlefield. Suddenly the enclosure breaks open and the disc dons macroscopic proportions where listener concentration, if it hadn't already, easily adheres.

Celeste Sunderland