Marco von Orelli - Max E. Keller - Sheldon Suter: Blow, Strike & Touch

The members of this experimental Swiss trio have been significant contributors to the avant-garde, or perhaps outside realm of European jazz circles for many years. But this album is bundled with perpetual reconstruction efforts, drifting sequences and mini-themes that are sometimes meditative in scope amid several transient pieces that intersect the full-length works. Nonetheless, the musicians craft an intimate portraiture framed on textural shadings, trumpeter Marco von Orelli's multiphonics and segments where pianist Max E. Keller summons darkness via asymmetrical movements, embedded within the intricately executed inner-workings.

"Jagdhund" is the lengthiest track at 12:48. Here, von Orelli launches the proceedings with breathy hush-tones and screeching notes while directing his band-mates into a fractured cadence, effectively contrasted by Keller's melodic phrasings and drummer Sheldon Suter's scrappy patterns and polyrhythmic tribal movements. However, they pick up the pace as the trumpeter fires back with a consortium of theme-building type choruses. Essentially, this is one of the album's more persuasive works as the trio's multidimensional mode of attack is quite impressive, considering the barebones trio format. Moreover, the ebb and flow parallels a series of dips and spikes along with passages that veer into minimalism and counterbalanced by foreboding statements.

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