The Necks cast their spell as Zen meets jazz
Perhaps the best way to describe the music of Australian cult trio the Necks is that it is the point at which Zen meets jazz.
Wentworth Courier
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The audience, which is as loyal as any footy fan club, knows what to expect from pianist Chris Abrahams, bassist Lloyd Swanton and drummer Tony Buck who have been performing their unique brand of music for three decades, earning themselves the accolade of “the greatest trio on earth” in a New York Times article.
Each “set” often lasts up to 50 minutes and is a mesmerising circular journey. The surprises come with what happens within that round trip, usually from a quiet opening, through the joyful building crescendo and back to a peaceful resolution.
Their refusal to fit into any narrow pigeonhole is best illustrated by the tags generated by my computer’s music library: six albums are variously categorised as “jazz”, “blues”, “alternative” and, fittingly, “unknown genre”.
Their latest hometown appearance comprised two shows in one day in the Playhouse at the Opera House. The afternoon gig featured two sets – maybe the evening one did as well. Whatever the case, the two shows would not have been the same because nothing ever is with these three geniuses of improvisation.
MOMENT
They are not for everybody. My guest for the afternoon felt that the first set put him in touch with a layer of liminal consciousness music didn’t often reach, much like the famous commercial for that Dutch beer.
The second set impressed him less: “A cross between a Japanese Noh play and a Native American dance is my take on it,” he told me.
Other friends have emerged from Necks concerts feeling both stimulated and relaxed at the same time. It is music that invites a mental and emotional journey in the listener – both meditative and with that consoling sense of timelessness that repetition can induce.
The musicians arrive on stage trusting to the moment, sometimes not even knowing who will start the piece. But they always arrive at a deeply satisfying resolution for their fans, and that’s what makes them keep coming back.
The band is not given to speaking to the audience beyond Swanton, at the end of each set, introducing each member and a “thank-you”.
But offstage he explains it well: “Over the years we’ve all developed internal clocks that just allow us to have a reasonable instinct for when things need to change and when things are in a really nice holding pattern,” he said in an interview.
It’s hard to argue with that.
DETAILS
● CONCERT The Necks
● WHERE Sydney Opera House Playhouse
● WHEN Sunday, February 16