Simon James Phillips is a classical trainer composer, born in Australia but currently residing in Berlin (Germany). His work usually constists of improvisation sessions around the exploration of time, place and perception. For this work, he put together an ensemble of musicians and placed them in the center of a large dance studio. The whole set lasted for five hours and the audience was welcome to come and go at will. Afterwards, Phillips editted the whole to create this almost magical album.
The musicians on this album are not the least. Tony Buck (drums and percussion), Werner Dafeldecker (double bass), BJ Nilsen (electronics), Liz Allbee (trumpet), Arthur Rother (guitar) and Simon James Phillips (piano) performed in this piece. The result are two CD's filled with organic ambient, created with both analog equipment and electronics. As usual the music drives on a number of soundscapes where other elements seem free to come and go, just like the audience was when they recorded this work. These pieces continuously change, like a very, very slow version of free jazz.
This work reminds me of people like Aidan Baker and his Hypnodrone Ensemble or Fear Falls Burning on his 'Frenzy Of The Absolute' album, although there's little to no uptempo krautrock or pounding drums on Blage 3. The resemblance lays in the perfect cooperation between these talented and experienced musicians. You can almost feel the chemistry and the magic in this music. Highly recommended for every experimental ambient and improvisation fan, that's for sure.
Serge