Chris Abrahams is best known for his piano work with post-everything trio The Necks, but is not so slowly developing a solo career that expands his sonic explorations in a host of different directions.
‘Fluid To The Influence’ builds on the foundations laid in his three previous solo outings, and while still essentially centred around the piano, incorporates a broad range of other elements to create a work that’s deep, textured and at times, surprising.
‘Fluid to the Influence’ is a wide-ranging work, the compositions spanning soft, supple piano ripples which evoke tranquil atmospheres and calm moods, to nerve-jangling noise that sets the teeth on edge. The contrasts should, by rights, be too extreme to work side by side, but the sequencing and pacing of the individual tracks is remarkably effective.
There’s some nasty, overloading electronic distortion, analogue grind amped up to the max to create a grating, tweeter-massacring mesh of noise. There’s a segment of ‘1 Liter Cold Laptop’ that sounds very like the shuddering sonic blitz of ‘A Cunt Like You’ by Whitehouse; elsewhere, on ‘The Stones Continued Intermittently’, mellow piano chords ripple delicately. Rippling notes cascade in mellifluous glissandos, casting forth relaxing interloping waves of sound.
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Fluidity really is the key here: the album is ever-shifting in texture and mood, and reaches into the mind and body in magical ways.
Chris Abrahams - Fluid To The Influence Online
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