The Slow Music boys get slower and even more cautious during the first set here on Bill Rieflin’s home turf of Seattle. [endtease]The echo-laden percussives which dominate the second and third improvisations of the first set mark out a sombre procession as all kinds of disembodied electronics swoosh past in the atmospheric slipstream. The emergence of a descending “spy movie” theme towards the end gives a sense of resolution which Bill Rieflin didn’t necessarily feel was there at the time. Slow Music’s guitarist with a Dorset burr judged the opening set to be “tentative.”
“In our music, space is a tool to be used. It is wide open within a certain context. If someone is moved to go in a certain direction, then so be it" said Bill in an interview with the local press. Finding their feet in the second set, Pete Buck has also found a butter knife with which to elicit glissando effects against Fripp’s single-note searchbeams and the low rumble of sampled drum rolls. The build-up to the climax of the final improvisation of the evening is superb: a frenetic tangle of howling notes ascending arco bass and shimmering cymbals bring the second set to a devastating conclusion.
On balance, a more reserved performance than the previous evening but no less engaging.
The next gig in this short tour would see the ensemble delve even deeper into the collective Slow Music psyche.
