Domino
2006
The Exchange Session Vol. 1
About This Album
The Exchange Session, Vol. 1 is the second collaboration between Four Tet's Kieran Hebden and jazz drummer extraordinaire Steve Reid. The pair first collaborated on Reid's excellent Spirit Walk album. There was one tune on that set, "Drum Story," where Hebden and Reid played without the rest of the latter's band. Over 13-minutes in length, it was an exercise in excess: Reid's rhythmic flail would have been enough, but to add his spoken poetry and Hebden's shrill knob twiddling was sonic torture. Though an excellent recording, that track marred what might have been a masterpiece. It also created a sense of foreboding when considering the first of the two-part Exchange Session, Vol. 1. That sense of dread is unfounded. The pair prove to be fine duet partners. When encountering these three cuts, one has to consider the politics and pitfalls of freely improvised music recorded without overdubs or edits. It's a tightrope walk. In "Morning Prayer" -- at six-and-a-half minutes it's the shortest work here -- the sense of mood, mode, and texture are the method in the madness. This feels like an improvising jazz group getting their bearings, turning the focus inwards.
Track List (try tracks 1 and 2)

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