Iris Ederer, NO Moore, Eddie Prévost: Traktor

Recorded live at Iklectik Arts Lab in London, during the summer of 2021, Traktor features a trio of players who know one another from the Friday evenings they shared at Eddie Prévost's weekly improvisation workshop which has been running since 1999. Prévost himself plays percussion, NO Moore (Nathan to his friends) plays electric guitar plus pedals, a combination which he has labelled 'guitarism,' and Austrian-born Iris Ederer is heard on vocals plus electronics.

The album's four tracks are entitled "Part I" to "Part IV" and have running times from just under six minutes up to twenty-two-and-a-half, a total of sixty-two minutes altogether. Amusingly, the album's cover artwork may cause some people to do a double take as it features a cartoonish picture of a yellow tractor in a style similar to AMM member Keith Rowe's image of a truck which adorned AMMMUSIC (Elektra, 1967), the group's debut album.

Right from the start it is clear how the album will sound throughout. The three players have trademarks which immediately identify them. Ederer's wordless vocals range far and wide, soaring wild and free, frequently hitting upon phrases or motifs which are worth exploring or repeating; occasionally she produces a burst of baby talk, unsurprising as her son was aged two at the time of recording; she occasionally uses electronics such as echo to subtly treat her voice without ever letting them dominate or intrude. Solid as a rock, Prévost plays a variety of percussion, with his bowed cymbal being familiar and as distinctive as a fingerprint.

Moore's playing here could almost be cited as an example of what he means by the label 'guitarism'; while he is unmistakably playing electric guitar and using pedals and electronics, the result is a long way from rock or jazz but very much his own sound, with bubbling white noise, occasional mini riffs and shimmering effects. Crucially, with all three members playing together most of the time, what each one plays fits in well with each of the others. Altogether, they make it sound as it they were playing in a bigger space than they actually were.

Despite the numbering, the four tracks are unrelated and subtly different; together they combine to flesh out a picture of a trio in which the members are comfortable with each other but not so comfortable that they complacently slip into well-trodden pathways and do not take risks. Altogether, the album is a testament to the quality of the players who have regularly attended that Friday evening workshop and graduated with honours.

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