Albert Cirera (tenor & soprano saxophones)
Olivier Jambois (guitar)
Àlex Reviriego (bass)
Vasco Trilla (drums)
As Deep Thought pointed out, 42 is the answer to the great question of life, the universe and everything – what ritual incantations and great truths might we expect from the 42nd Nocturna Discordia…?
We begin with harsh scrapes, squalls and squeals all round which, oddly, seemed to combine into a less angular composite sound. Until Cirera adds some rougher edges. Jambois’s guitar produces a continuous series of staccato (and static) interferences before developing into a rumbling, industrial backdrop. Through this roiling cloud of sound, there are moments of sharp excess – a single repetitive bass note, a tenor squeak, a hammered cymbal, a high-speed tremolo… – like flashes of light in a fascinating darkness.
In the second piece, Cirera switches to soprano and flings out increasingly layered fragments of melody, Jambois applies a metal slide to the pickups with predictably noisy results, Reviriego sets up a beating pulse, and Trilla applies his usual precision to a cacophony of disparate thumps, scrapes and clatters. Like a Burroughs cut up, these scraps are then stitched together to create new cloth from chaos.
The rituals were most definitely evident. The great truths? Those probably depended on the listener.