The tour with Free Fall concludes with back to back concerts in Budapest (on the 8th) and St. Johann (on the 9th). The band focused predominantly on new material in Budapest, only 2 pieces are from the old book (Accidents With Ladders and Turns), the rest of the set is devoted to 6 newer works: Stendahl Syndromes, Air India Radio, 88, Collisions With Signs, Molloy, and A Wiik of Birthdays. All in all things go really well and the audience shows enthusiasm throughout the set, the trio playing a charged improvisation for an encore. As typical, we had an early morning train, but it brought the group to one of the most beautiful areas in Europe- the Tyrolean mountains of Austria- in order to perform at Artacts ’12, a superb festival with, once again, an incredible cast of musicians. Free Fall opened the first of three nights; the knowledge that so many musicians were in the audience (including all of the members of the Resonance Ensemble, who would be starting a European tour by closing the festival on Sunday night) made the gig particularly significant for me- the band started Accidents With Ladders at an incredibly quick tempo, and the kinetic energy pushed the music throughout the entire performance. Free Fall’s set was followed by a great duo with Clementine Gasser and Mikolaj Trzaska; then ReDDeer, a trio with Fay Victor (the first time I heard her sing, and I can see why Ab Baars raves about her), Elisabeth Harnink (one of my favorite pianists combining a New Music sensibility with real improvising chops), and Dominic Lash (my first experience hearing him as well; the festival is packed with ensembles and players I don’t know); with the Ames Room (Jean-Luc Guionnet, Clayton Thomas, Will Guthrie) finishing the evening, playing a kind of music that felt something like the The Necks on crack. A tremendous evening and great reunite with the members of Resonance- it’s going to be a fantastic tour.
Free Fall in Budapest:
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