#punctum

Punctum, recorded live at a community space in Prague, takes a similar tact. Before the performance, the three combed the basement, dragging up pots, pans, junk appliances and old bicycles, and headed outside to collect tree branches and stones. Over the course of two improvisations, the group attacks their collected detritus and Válek’s electroacoustic machines with unbridled vigor. First up is the 18-minute “cut pum n” which begins with restless clatter, gradually building in velocity and density. The three are pensive listeners, weaving together the variegated layers of interstitial sonic textures and timbral detail. There is always an underlying sense of intentionality to their collective clamor, with metallic jangling dings chiming out from the cyclical clatter and pommeling, percussive bustle.

For the second improvisation, “cut pun m,” the trio is joined by SunDog (vocalist Isabelle Duthoit and eRikm utilizing various electronics). The addition of two additional voices into the mix might suggest that the proceedings would get more cluttered and anarchic. But while the palette is expanded, the strategies of the first improvisation carry through. It is impossible to pick out extended vocalizations from electromechanical squeaks and chirps or percussive clanks and sputters from electronic oscillations or the rustling and scrapes of the flotsam and jetsam scattered around the space and the five make the most of those synergies. Here in particular, they are attentive to building densities without overwhelming the sonorities of their expansive auditory assemblage. There is a more clearly defined arc to the improvisation, starting with a more open array of sounds that accrue around a ground of electronic hum. Percussive patterns emerge, get layered across each other and are woven in to threads of abraded tonality, teetering gesticulations, and spectral howls with deft control. In the final few minutes, they slowly unwind the layers, as if preparing to distribute the collection of devices back to where they were found, advancing a natural statsis out of the spare creaks, shudders, and clangs.