No Nation But Imagination
Alexander Hawkins
Intakt CD 453 (alexanderhawkinsintakt.bandcamp.com/album/no-nation-but-imagination)
A departure for UK pianist Alexander Hawkins who usually plays acoustically, No Nation But Imagination expands his compositional and international direction with electronic instruments and more associates. Hawkins uses synthesizer and sampler as well as piano; fellow Brit Matthew Wright turntables and live sampling; while additional textures are contributed by Welsh harpist Rhodri Davies plus Americans, flutist Nicole Mitchell and drummer Hamid Drake.
Wave form crackles and static are omnipresent as are heightened synthesized aural colors, while Coda Over The Fence is dominated by turntable-mutated instrumental samples. However acoustic and electric textures are balanced throughout.
Tracks are introduced or expanded with Mitchell’s transverse trills and Davies’ sweeping multi-string strums or singular stops. A track like Each And Every combines the harpist’s pizzicato plucks with darkened flute trills, surmounted by sampler wave forms and underlined by Drake’s drum rumbles.
While some sequences are near pastoral the best indications of how Hawkins melds contradiction are Lullaby Much Further and Hocket Fierce Peaceful. Between Wright’s dial-twisting jiggles or descending drones which begin and end the first, drum clanks and piano comping create a distorted theme. Wavering flute variables, harp patterns and Carnatic sound samples initially dominate the other tune, with pauses leading to a distorted interchange from electric keyboard ripples and speedy flute peeps. The result is linear and limitless.
Hawkins has demonstrated his skill in other configurations. Pivots to electricity with an augmented cast suggest further exploration continues to be rewarding.
