The Necks

Watching a performance by Sydney trio The Necks is like sex without an orgasm. Their music is profoundly evocative, but frustratingly demanding without offering a sense of closure. I don’t mind though, I think two hours of absolute, mindful stimulation is better than 3 minutes 11 seconds of idle vacuity. Not much happens, yet somehow you walk away exhausted, full from the experience.

Alternating between the undressing caress of aural foreplay, the sounds move in to a rough pull of staccato like noise. You feel like you might just make sense of what is happening, until the sound shifts in to the noise of heaving beasts moving ferociously into a climactic frenzy. It is impossible to fully comprehend what is happening or how the musicians know what is next. Challenging sounds that transcend time and space, the instruments appear to borrow the musicians and the musicians seem to steal the audience. Who is feeding who remains a mystery! The music is not simply the sounds but the relationship between each other. In a recent article in The Sydney Morning Herald Abrahams said that ‘he feels that decisions in the collective music-making should be subconscious, rather than doing something like consciously bullying the music towards a climax’.

Renowned for their lengthy pieces that mesmerise The Necks are deceptively simplistic. The Necks are Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums) and Lloyd Swanton (bass). They are one of Australia’s great cult bands and have released 15 albums to date. Spanning 23years as a band their live performances can be challenging for those expecting a conventional musical experience. Beginning the set with instrumental sections, each contribute by softly stimulating the audience and leading them in to an almost hypnotic state of emptiness as the subconscious takes over. The music builds in to a repetitive sequence of spontaneous, yet seemingly calculated, blend of noise. They are conjurors of sounds that are independently woven together and teased out by crossing over in to a variety of genres. Dubbed experimental jazz The Necks are not quite avant-garde and not quite minimalist. As the piece builds through subtle changes, the interaction of their instruments, create layers of sounds that lead some in to a trance state.

A mostly middle-aged audience at The Famous Spiegeltent in Adelaide, it was a sold out performance. The Famous Spiegeltent, a hand-hewn pavilion was built in 1920 by master craftsmen Oscar Mols Dom and Louis Goor and has spent its lifetime travelling at the bequest of festivals and fairgrounds throughout Europe and beyond. It has played host to the world’s greatest cabaret artists, musicians and circus burlesque performers. Perhaps I am alone in my dislike of the much loved and renowned travelling festival venue. But to me, the venue is made of smoke and mirrors. The sound was harsh and in turn ruined my engorging experience of my one-night stand of provocative aural arousal with the The Necks.

Perhaps better suited to somewhere like The Basement in Sydney or The Factory Theatre, the Adelaide audience seemed to sit politely rigid within the tight confine of mirrors and blue light. The Necks, never disappointing, are best heard live. If you havn’t seen them, look out for their next tour. It will probably be 2 of the best hours you could spend.

The Necks are also travelling with Back-to-Back theatre’s Food Court, profoundly moving theatre that you must see.

The Necks
7 March 2010
Duration:
2hrs 30mins (incl interval)

Part of the Adelaide International Arts Festival
Until the 14th of March