For some years now, Leeds label Gizeh has been developing an international reputation for releasing subtly nuanced music from the UK and Europe, from the luscious, haunting minimalism of Glissando, the primary musical outlet of label honcho Richard Knox, to Farewell Poetry and Conquering Animal Sound. Mere, a trio comprising Gareth Davis (bass clarinet), Thomas Cruijsen (guitar), and Leo Fabriek (drums) are their latest addition, and their eponymous debut slots in alongside the rest of the roster perfectly.
‘Mere’ means ‘more’ in Dutch, and this release shows that less is more. Mere began life as a TV soundtrack collaboration, and this this improvisational-based album consists of three parts, and a distant freeform jazz noir vibe softly drifts through the darkness on the first. It slowly builds through a clattering arrhythmic percussion to a discordant crescendo. The second movement is given to sinister drones, oblique sounds that encroach subliminally upon the listener’s sense and subconscious.
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The third subtly alters the mood once more. Spanning a full 25 minutes, it takes the shifting, form of a sparse clattering improv that tapers down to nothing around the mid-point, before drifting like smoke into the distance.
Mere Online
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