Climb by Chris Abrahams

LP on black vinyl limited to 200 copies (HÆ009).

ORDER HERE: necrodigger.mystore4.no

Vinyl reissue of Chris Abrahams' tenth solo piano album, originally released on CD by Vegetable Records in 2016.

REVIEWS OF THE LP REISSUE

"Et annet foretak som med hell opererer med flotte vinylutgivelser i relativt nøkterne opplag og nedlasting via Bandcamp, er bolaget til et av bloggens stamsteder Kafé Hærverk. Det kan fort vise seg å være et selskap å samle på. Ikke minst på grunn av kvaliteten på musikken. En som snart kan kalles stamgjest der, Chris Abrahams som bl.a. spiller flygel i fantastiske The Necks, er nå aktuell med en meget sofistikert nyutgivelse av albumet Climb, usedvanlig suggererende og skjønn pianomusikk i hans sublime og meget karakteristiske stil, kanskje hakket mer lyrisk enn ellers her. Duggdråpene på gresstråene ved dagens opprinnelse, er tanker som svever gjennom hodet med musikken, eller Hage om morgenen, for å parafrasere Moskus. Det er et våknende håp her, som virkelig evner å løfte lytteren, i alle fall denne, opp fra tingenes ofte tunge tilstand. Shimmering, warm & bright – deilig! Kanskje dette rett og slett har litt ekstra lytterappell i dagens stress-samfunn, det er peaceful piano music PPM, som jo mange ler av, men som har sin funksjon. Og er det ikke derfor vi er så glade i Kjetil Jerves Daily Piano også? Sjekk forresten ut Jerves nye single «Turid».
Abrahams-utgivelsen er også verd en investering på grunn av det slående vakre omslaget."
— Filip Roshauw og Audun Vinger, Now's The Time / Jazznytt, 18.09.2020

REVIEWS OF THE ORIGINAL CD RELEASE

"Abrahams’ tenth solo piano album, Climb (Vegetable VEGE003) is a departure from his previous few albums on which he has tended to use a variety of different keyboards in electo-acoustic mode. This is all solo piano, his first for a decade (Streaming in 2006), consisting of seven tracks, selected from hours of tapes, of varying length amounting to just over 40 minutes of music. As he has stated, “Over many years I have recorded my solo piano pieces with the intention of releasing a collection as a cohesive album. It’s a different way of working from going in to a studio to record a whole album in one go. It has allowed for the progression of time to be reflected in the work.”

‘Roller’ offers a relatively gentle opening gambit, with melodic sequences and a rippling, trebly, rhythm, followed by ‘The Sleeping and the Drifts’, a dreamier, slower and very euphonic piece, with his trademark shimmering, coming in at just over 9 minutes (timings are not listed). ‘Overlap’ reflects is structure in its title, a more methodically minimalist piece, with bass notes predominant, gradually evolving in phase patterns, while ‘Beach of Black Stones’ suggests the ebb and flow of a tide, back in the treble range, with a more arpeggiated structure, and is the shortest track at 3’43’’. ‘Fern Scrapes’ suggests the New Zealand bush, and we are back in bass territory, with a rapid, undulating tempo; ‘Dog Rose’ is perhaps evocative of a garden, with a trill in its legato melody, and a more cautious approach.

The final track, ‘Shoreline’, brings us back to the beach, and the rippling of water is predominant. Each track is distinctively different, with its own particular stamp, and Abrahams’ skill and control in improvisation is outstanding throughout. If composition is improvisation in the moment, this album has it in spades, and there is a notable melodic beauty throughout. It is 33 years since Abrahams’ debut solo album, simply called ‘Piano’ and consisting of nine improvisations which were recorded in the Recording Hall of the Sydney Opera House, and mastered, according to my vinyl copy on Hot Records, in Studio 301, where this album was also mastered. The opening track is entitled ‘Heavy Water’; another is called ‘Stormy Weather’, and while it is far less contained and restrained than the music on ‘Climb’, it suggests a virtuoso pianist in the making. It is a delight to hear how he has developed."
- Tony Mitchell, Cyclic Defrost

"Although he has a string of solo releases behind him, Chris Abrahams is probably best known as the pianist of that Australian powerhouse of improvisational music, The Necks. With his parent group recently celebrating its 30th anniversary with a string of shows in their favourite venues, it seems perfect timing for Abrahams to unveil his latest album. Climb is his first solo piano work for a decade, although there has been a series of electro-acoustic albums on Room40 in between (the last of these, Fluid To The Influence, came out earlier in 2016). In contrast to his work with The Necks, who tend to capture one hour of one day’s improvisation, this album has been assembled from hours of recordings made over several years, which perhaps explains the contrasting moods of the seven pieces here.

Opening with the gentle and comparatively tranquil “Roller”, with its undulating melody and room ambience – the odd pedal squeak and chair creak adds to the atmosphere – Climb feels sometimes free, sometimes structured; part-composed, part-improvised, as one might expect from a master improviser who conjures something new every time he walks on stage. The seven pieces selected from the hours of tapes are put together to create a narrative flow and increase the emotional impact. The tracks individually create powerful sound images as well – “The Sleepings And The Drifts” starts off sparingly, the bass notes echoing out like stones thrown in a pool while the right hand scurries like small waves rippling across the surface, rolling back on themselves.

“Overlap” is all clustered notes and rumbling heaviness, emphasising the impression of Climb as an emotional rollercoaster, ramping up the intensity then easing off on “Beach of Black Stones” before going again in the final trio of pieces. Without having to resort to any trickery or additional effects, Chris Abrahams demonstrates the versatility and range of one man sitting at a piano. Some may want to pluck out a track here or there for a meditative playlist but it is far better to listen to the album as a complete work of seven cumulative movements. When taken as a whole, it is a genuinely affecting sequence, a testament to the power of imagination and 88 keys."
- Jeremy Bye, A Closer Listen

"Meticulously compiled from over a decade of solo piano recordings, Climb (Vegetable Records) is an album that fans of The Necks have been waiting for.

Chris Abrahams produced his first two solo piano music in the mid 80s, when in his early 20s. At the time he was also playing as a recruit with post-punks Laughing Clowns, pop music as a member of The Sparklers, and jazz in the Benders, alongside future Necks colleague Lloyd Swanton. More recently, outwith The Necks, his independent focus has been electro-acoustic music, as recently documented on ROOM40’s excellent Fluid to the Influence, though there have also been albums of pop music in duo with the Sparklers’ singer Melanie Oxley, and numerous other collaborations besides.

So Climb is Abrahams’ fifth album of solo piano music, but the first in over a decade since Streaming in 2003.

While its production binds it together (it sounds like it was all recorded on one piano), it’s more varied than his concentrated sets with The Necks usually allow, comprised of shorter pieces that don’t demand the same methodical immersion in modes and patterns as The Necks’ slow yield extended performances. The same remarkable free-flow of conception and execution is, however, in full effect.

Abrahams can be methodical, but not in any formal sense. He imbues the multiform intricacies of a piece such as “Beach of Black Stones” – at 3:42, the album’s shortest and most tantalisingly expressionist cut – with an improviser’s complex humanity. It’s primarily emotion and response, with no tidy pattern or resolution.

Contrast both this and the shimmering lyricism of “Roller” with the churning, piano-intestinal rumble of “Fern Scrapes”, which Abrahams plays at a remarkable turn of speed. It’s like super-computer player piano: one for fans of Nancarrow.

And contrast that, again, with the poise and delicacy of “The Sleepings and the Drifts”, which is almost pellucid, a lulling ravishment.

“The Sleepings and the Drifts” and “Overlap”, the album’s longest pieces (none last much longer than nine minutes), are most comparable to The Necks. The latter is played in the piano’s lower register in mesmeric tidal rhythm, Abrahams focused but split- rather than single-minded, creating parallel seams of development in productive tension that converge, merge and diverge in interlocking patterns.

A couple of the other pieces, “Roller” and “Dog Rose”, are very different, with a dreamlike lyricism shot through with steely intelligence – a sense of practiced vitality even more striking on the album’s last cut, “Shoreline’’, which is an intricate, elemental piece played with tempered vitality."
- Tim Oven, Dalston Sound

Chris Abrahams, born in NZ, but raised and based in Sydney, is one of the most distinctive keyboardists Australia has produced. He is best known for his work as pianist with the improvising trio The Necks, but has released several solo and collaborative albums. He has also composed for the screen and has been nominated for two Australian Film Institute awards for best soundtrack in a feature film.