Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Lucas Niggli - Andreas Schaerer: Arcanum

20

Lucas Niggli - Andreas Schaerer: Arcanum

By

View read count
Lucas Niggli - Andreas Schaerer: Arcanum
Whether leading his Drum Quartet, seven-piece Zoom ensemble or supporting fabled improvisers, bassist Barry Guy and guitarist Fred Frith, Swiss drummer Lucas Niggli is not one to play it safe or dodge risk-taking processes. His mantra is firmly implanted in a musical world that is assuredly outside the box, after appearing on nearly two-dozen albums for Intakt Records. On Arcanum, Niggli takes another leap of faith by teaming with free-form vocalist Andreas Schaerer. Besides the drummer's colossal sound and enviable technique, the twosome sparks esoteric dialogues, perhaps signaling tribal music for the modern era with an air of antiquity, especially during the vocalist's sanctified chants and perceptive use of electronics effects. Niggli and Schaerer often operate at warp speed or temper the proceedings when exploring dimly lit panoramas.

The duo executes some trickery with mind-bending, polyrhythmic unison runs. At times Schaerer conjures imagery of Brit avant vocalist Phil Minton's cavorting, alien-speak atop Niggli's thunderous tom rolls and swooshing cymbals hits. Yet the title track "Arcanum," is nestled within a spooky and harrowing environ, emphasized by the drummer's intermittent cymbals crashes, as they shift gears on "Chasing The Frog," by implementing a slap, dab, and popping rhythmic escapade, intensified by Shaerer's maniacal scat refrains. However, the musicians do fuse some warmhearted opuses into the program. And they embed textural components via highs, lows and polytonal treatments but also produce outlandish soundscapes that trigger seething discourses. It's an inviting concept with bouts of fun and frolic amid a journey that can rattle your brain, soothe the savage beast or even freak out your friends.

Track Listing

Pipe Tomahawk; Ancient Glow; How To Shoot a Medevial Longbow; Arcanum; Adansonia Digitata; Chasing the Frog; Marbelcore; Hallucigenia.

Personnel

Lucas Niggli: drums, percussion; Andreas Schaerer: voice, electronics.

Album information

Title: Arcanum | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: Intakt Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.