Those inclined toward improvised music can usually find something worthwhile in all forms of it. But even the most blindly faithful recognize when a session shoots so high that it sounds more like a rocket than a record. The First Original Silence is that kind of instant attention-grabber. Original Silence use the same tools as many improv groups: rolling percussion, squawking horns, guitar feedback, and scraggly electronic noise. But these six sound-crushers have added some sort of performance-enhancing drug, injecting their sound with energy rare to any music, improvised or otherwise.
That shouldn't be a surprise given the pedigree of the participants. High-level improv is routine for sax player Mats Gustafsson and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love (both from free jazz dynamo the Thing), guitarist Terrie Ex of the Ex, bassist Massimo Pupillo of Zu, and guitarist Thurston Moore and Jim O'Rourke (on electronics here) of whatever it is they do. But improv history is littered with mediocre records made by well-heeled musicians unable to get out of each other's way.
Original Silence avoid such pitfalls by committing to improv-rock, the kind that actually sounds like experimental rock music rather than just rock musicians noodling. This is due mostly to the heavy gravitational force of Nilssen-Love and Pupillo, whose metallic rhythms swing between structure and freedom. The closest parallel to their bombastic stomp is the hammering lurch of Norwegian trio Noxagt; in fact, much of The First Original Silence sounds like Noxagt gone free-jazz, an enticing prospect to be sure.
Recorded during a 2005 tour of Italy, the album gets off to a ferocious start, grafting Minutemen-like bounce to Gustafsson's guttural horn playing. "If Light Has No Age, Time Has No Shadow" continues to hurtle forward from there, remaining insistent and vigorous through 15 minutes of tonal changes. Most impressive is how the musicians never step on each other; their fluid exchange of sonic positions almost feels conducted. When Pupillo backs down, Moore or Ex fills in with cutting string-work, only to slip underneath O'Rourke's squiggly slashes, which in turn make way for Gustafsson's full-body bellows.
The 45-minute closer "In the Name of the Law" is understandably not as high-speed. It does have stretches of mass hysteria, especially a crazed section starting around eight minutes in, where a nearly-4/4 beat, wailing guitar noise, and Gustafsson's Albert Ayler-esque squalls evoke the Stooges' "L.A. Blues". But even the most placid moments crackle. Stretches of electronic whirr, minimal guitar clang (reminiscent of Evol-era Sonic Youth), and thick atmosphere all emit an electric charge. Even the final 15 minutes, a nearly rhythm-less denouement, has enough plot points to keep you turning the sonic pages.
Long improv tracks have become such a cliché that they often seem doomed to fail. But Original Silence attacks these two epics like sprints instead of marathons, and The First Original Silence proves you don't have to stop playing to catch your breath.
