When I started these series of re-listening albums that I had bought a long time ago I had set a time period of more than 10 years. However, I wouldn't leave the amazing Necks out of this section of my blog. And that is because The Necks is one of my favourite bands and I couldn't miss this opportunity to write more about them.
I bought the 'Mindset' in June 2012, which was a year later than the official release date of the album. Back in the old days where many music fans would chase for an album in the record shops, there is also an interesting story for this album. I had decided that I wanted to visit the record shop of Sound323 in Archway in London, as it is a record store that I used to order on-line, but always had the curiosity to see how it looks like. And when I arrived this album got my attention immediately, and when I took to the till to pay for it the person who was there told me: 'Very good taste. I have been trying to sell this record for months!'.
I wasn't sure if his comment was supposed to be a good thing or not. Further to our discussion he also said that the record store would be closed, apart from the online store. So, luckily enough I was able to visit the store before it was closed down and also keep this experience in my memory.
The Necks is an Australian band who have been together I think for more than 30 years and consisted of some excellent musicians, in particular, Chris Abrahams, Tony Buck and Lloyd Swanton. Apart from this band, the members work on sidelines of other projects or solo releases. Chris Abrahams has released albums in the Australian label Room40, while Tony Buck has various collaborations with Fennesz and live performances with Magda Mayas.
The album is consisted of two tracks, as most of their releases, except for their latest release the 'Body' that was released on cd format only, since there is only one track on the album of around one hour duration. Compared to other more recent Necks previous releases, 'Mindset' starts a bit more powerful. Other releases reach their peak after a few minutes and the experimentation gets greater through their tracks. The first track is called 'Rum Jungle', and in the beginning, what is the most prevalent is Chris Abrahams' piano. Abrahams starts very rapidly in his playing and in the background, the listener can hear Buck's drums playing like a repetitive loop. The track is around 22 min. long and its power its quite the same with few alterations and the human ear needs to pay a lot of attention to understand these changes. During the last minutes the tempo is slowing down and Buck's piano is less prevalent on the track while Swanton's and Buck's playing is getting more dominant. Especially Swanton's bass produces a very nice drone sound. What I can't tell is whether there are other instruments, because I can listen to some guitar playing and a type of electronic sound at the end of the track.
The second track of the album, although it is much slower compared to the first track, again it seems a bit different for many tracks from The Necks. Abrahams piano is also dominant, but what is again surprising is the existence of other instruments, such as a drone background guitar playing. The track is called 'Daylights' and is almost the same length to the first track. After a while, Buck's drums and percussion take a bigger role on the track, while Swanton's bass follows the tunes in the background of the other members of the band. At the last minutes of the track, you can tell that this is a usual Necks track with the melodic outburst, Abrahams' piano is less present and the dronish sound on the background is much easier to discern.
The second track of the album, although it is much slower compared to the first track, again it seems a bit different for many tracks from The Necks. Abrahams piano is also dominant, but what is again surprising is the existence of other instruments, such as a drone background guitar playing. The track is called 'Daylights' and is almost the same length to the first track. After a while, Buck's drums and percussion take a bigger role on the track, while Swanton's bass follows the tunes in the background of the other members of the band. At the last minutes of the track, you can tell that this is a usual Necks track with the melodic outburst, Abrahams' piano is less present and the dronish sound on the background is much easier to discern.
Going back to The Necks discography that I have in my record collection, and having listened very carefully the other collaborations of their members, I can definitely say that this album is quite different. The presence of other instruments or the way that they produce these different sounds like they are different instruments is one strong element of the album. The other highlight of this release is the energy on the first track is more intense to what I've heard at home or by seeing them perform live.
