Search - Mephista :: Black Narcissus

Highly original with brutal tension.

Lord Chimp | Monkey World | 02/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mephista is a percussion trio of unusual composition: Susie Ibarra's incredibly nuanced drumming, Ikue Mori's alien drum machines, and Sylvie Courvoisier's modernist-tinged piano playing (about evenly split inside and outside the instrument). All three of them are brilliant composers and improvisers, and the music they create on _Black Narcissus_ is masterful, original, and eerily powerful free-improvisation.



The heart of the group is its glorious improvisational tension, almost always perched tenuously at the edge. It's like a brewing storm, but not always threatening or scary -- it's just as often meditative, pretty, or sorta wacky. Tonality is virtually disregarded, but the trio still sometimes gravitates towards some harmonic centers, where it rumbles for a while, then moves along. There are some moments where it does erupt with freaky, dense atonal clatter, and these moments are spontaneously beautiful and amazing, feats of aural and technical qualities that will leave you lightheaded from the wonder of it all.



Musicianship and performance of the highest order -- highly recommended."