Mikrokolektyw: Revisit

In the booklet note for Revisit, the parallel between Poland and Chicago is pertinently pointed out in terms of climate. It stretches as far as the music, too, because this Polish duo is enthralled with one of the windy city's current musical strands. They owe a debt to the Chicago Underground Trio in the way they utilize electronics alongside acoustic instruments; but, despite this, the music is often pretty thin listening.

Although there's nothing inherently wrong with a duo consisting of trumpet and drums, in this case there often isn't enough individuality to augment the lineup's implicit austerity—an especially pertinent point in view of the duo's relatively straightforward approach, unless the electronics are regarded as something of an inherent novelty. Thus, for all of the rhythmic urgency of "Rocket Street," there's little to place that in a larger context, apart from random spurts of electronica which have no great effect, prior to the serenity of Artur Majewski's muted trumpet interlude.

"Lipuko" is, by contrast, quite serene, but to a point where it could serve as background music. Majewski employs repetition to no great effect, while drummer Kuba Suchar plays around an electronic pulse. The overall effect is that of a minimal Weather Report, but comparison with that band at its best is still pretty thin gruel for all of its pleasantness.

"Almost a Good Mood" sets up a tension between trumpet and drums for all of its two minute duration, but it's too much of a snippet for anything more significant to happen, while the following "Attention!" finds the duo augmented by an electronically generated bass line which remains quite static. This does, however, at least offer some polyrhythmic possibilities, in view of Suchar's hyperactivity and Majewski's more measured approach.

"Watermelon From The '80s" is intriguing enough to make much of the rest of the program frustrating. The duo opts for a more enigmatic approach by comparison with a lot of the music they produce, but once again the brevity of the piece makes for frustrating listening. Much the same can be said for the finishing "Gift," where they move into an area of abstraction which, if they did so more often, would perhaps yield more intriguing musical results.

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