Another wonder of modern improvised music from Permanent Draft with this latest solo album from Belgian drummer, Karen Wilems. Given its provenance, we can reliably interpret Wilems' role as 'drummer' in the same way we might Valentina Magaletti - which is to say: fluid, inventive, and frequently striving for something outside of convention. Wilem's deploys a range of percussive instruments (some more typical than others - whatever a 'crispy shaker' is it sounds delicious), field recordings and electroacoustic sounds, sometimes accompanied by her own voice, often bordering on the fourth world in ways that recall a more consciously freeform interpretation of Hassell's Magic Realism or David Toop and Ryuichi Sakamoto's late period long form collab, GARDEN OF SHADOWS AND LIGHT. Such experiments can lean so far into abstraction as to impress more than they engage, but Wilems imposes a very alluring sense of marvel and mystery in her work, flitting between the atonal, abrasive and hypnotic with great elasticity. Fans of Magaletti will certainly be engaged, though there's also a sense of freeness that makes good association with the equally singular Les Disques Omnison set and the recent Troubadours record on Few Crackles. In the accompanying press pack, Wilems, by way of explaining the root of the title, claims "you really have to be crazy to release music these days", which might very well be true, but 'crazy' isn't really evidenced here. On the contrary, the unmoored push and pull of A Fool's Guide to Reality feels like a perfectly sane response to our current times.
FFO: Jon Hassell, David Toop, Valentina Magaletti, Orion Music Workshop, Troubadours
Karen Wilems - A Fool's Guide to Reality
£25.00
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