Tania Chen/Steve Beresford - Ointment

Tania Chen/Steve Beresford
Ointment
Rossbin
RS018

One thing about the Rossbin label: you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get. “Ointment” finds Beresford operating in toy mode in a series of improvised duos, live and studio, with Tania Chen, perhaps better known as a pianist (she has appeared as such with the ensemble Apartment House on the Matchless recording of Cardew’s chamber music among other places). One’s enjoyment of this disc might hinge on one’s appreciation of this aspect of Beresford’s persona as opposed to his avant Cole Porter stylings or evocatively noirish soundtrack work.

When I was a kid, we had a little toy piano. About fifteen inches on a side, the top painted light blue, the underside white. It quickly became clear that far more satisfying than dabbling with the slow-responding, slightly lugubrious keys, twiddling the steel rods from behind was where the action was at. They emerged at angles slightly askew, enough so that, when thwacking some of them, amply large vibrations would occur that would allow them to clang against their neighbors producing delightful metallic quivers and enamel-cracking buzzes. You could while away many hours just investigating this one tiny slice of music toy aesthesia. It might be from childhood sources such as this that I derive my distaste for the grab bag approach sometimes employed by free improvisers with an arsenal of equipment at their disposal, the “first I’ll play with this one, then this one, then the next” attitude that conjures up the mental image of someone tediously working their way through a checklist of must do’s. So a part of me wishes that Chen and Beresford would pause, at least on occasion, to more carefully consider their toys and objects, to give them more respect. On the other hand, if that’s not your game, I suppose you might as well jump in at the deep end of the pool and that’s what occurs here on the best tracks: a robust abandon that raises a satisfying welter. While the more overtly silly aspects lose luster after a listen or two, there’s enough spirited interplay (and perhaps a surprisingly level of sheer volume) to at least intermittently grab the listener. On “Liniment” (I should mention that each piece is rather humorously named in honor of a salve of one kind or another, including such mellifluous gems as “Demulcent” and “Chrism”) Chen’s violin strains against samples, rattles, metal and other detritus like an anxious parent dealing with an obnoxiously creative six-year old—very effective!—before zoning out attractively in layers of hiss, clicks and warped guitar. The aforementioned “Demulcent” has charms akin to the pings of a distant pachinko parlor while “Cerate”’s early morning dockside rumblings swell into an enticingly fervid smog of activity. Beresford’s use of electronics also goes some way toward leavening out longer pieces like “Lotion”, perhaps removing the immediacy of the acoustic sound producers but also “clearing the room” of some of the stifling quality they can create. The closing, self-mockingly funky number…well, I could have done without it.

Not a bad disc, doubtless a fun time to be had for Beresford’s fans. If you want more introspection, seek ye elsewhere.

Brian Olewnick