Hafler Trio
"Something approached, and it was embraced, thorns piercing the anonymous functions and the ways in which all the secrets had been help in high esteem. traces of the places yet to come, and those to be left far behind. the first outing in the digital domain, and all the difference the day made when it appeared, startling those in need of a jolly good lie down. and so it went, out with the new and in with the old. dressed up to the (significant number), polished so that even the lowliest louse can admire themselves in the obsidian entities we call an aid to beauty. without a doubt, the flowering of nothing evil, but certainly the full spectrum of the shades. and a small wander through some of them. unable to be be defeated, it carries on with a huge flag at the beginning of the procession." — Hafler Trio ::
It always irritates me to hear the phrase 'let the music speak for itself'. It obstinately refuses to acknowledge that the relationship between sound and the listener is mediated by countless preconceptions, preconceptions so strong as to determine whether the listener hears anything in the sound at all. I say this, for the Hafler Trio provides the perfect antithesis to such short-sightedness. From the moment one picks up a Hafler Trio release one is inundated with (dis)information designed to confront expectations and mould a context for the sounds one will hear. Ignotum Per Ignotius [unknown to the very unknown], the seventh re-release by Korm Plastics (originally released 1989 by Touch), comes (like the previous six) in beautifully sumptuous packaging and with an accompanying booklet of mythical looking prints and short stories - all of which are written in reverse. The stories are all childlike in nature but with a dark symbolism always just beneath the surface. They are also, as with much Andrew McKenzie does, soaked in wit (something sadly often missed in his work). The mirror reading exercise, which I initially thought a somewhat conceptual point, actually proved to add a great deal to the stories. The physicality of the text, as it floated around on the dirty mirror, was very much felt in the process of reading, making the experience feel singular and unique and perfectly preparing for the CD. I do not feel I can really comment much upon the audio on the CD other than saying that the contrasts are perhaps more pronounced and shocking than most other Hafler Trio releases. There would be no point trying to describe the sounds as beautiful, ugly, pleasant or unpleasant, for although they are all of these things, this proves inconsequential as regards their efficiency. All I will say is that as a means of communication the Hafler Trio's work generally, with adequate concentration, succeeds, this work being no exception; I cannot say what it communicates, but then if I could there would be no such need for the means employed. Andrew Mackenzie is neither an artist nor a musician but one feels that he succeeds in delivering what both fields promise and almost always fail to deliver, namely a medium created to fulfil its own communicative demands. You would be fools not to buy up his back-catalogue given that you have a second chance. :: The Hafler Trio: Ignotum Per Ignotius - Korn Plastics/A-Musik
