The Necks
THREE
NORTHERN SPY
LONG LIVE VINYL EDITOR’S CHOICE
Dropping the needle on track one, Bloom, might lead you to think you’ve accidentally put on Aphex Twin’s latest. The frenetic burst of jagged rhythms and glitchy beats is as kinetic and immersive an opening as on any of their albums. It sets the tone for another record on which predicting where this instrumental trio will go next is impossible. There’s the usual masterful deftness of gently rolling bass and jazz piano gliding alongside such spasmodic rhythms. The other two (of three) pieces, both run to around 22 minutes, too, but move at much varying paces. Lovelock unfurls in quietly tense and dense tones, like a score to an entire film, whereas the closing Further seems to capture an essence of both: percussion fizzes away relentlessly but subtly over a sensual bass groove that hooks you in until its final moments.