Vole - Happy Clappy [CD]

The debut album by Vole is a lesson in fertile contradictions. Created by three of European Improv's brightest young practitioners, it's a focussed and detailed study into how to combine the freedom and spontaneity of improvisation with the structure and forms of rock and composition. Of course, there is plenty of skilled improvisation. 'Tim's Frosties' contains gouts of jagged, howling group extemporisation, with blustery trumpet, taut guitar shredding and tumbling percussion that wouldn't sound out of place coming from one of Anthony Braxton's more mobile recent units. Other pieces, like 'Voice Unvoiced' and 'Improctober' are more meditative - almost ambient - like environmental audio postcards from a mist-clad mossy hillside or a steamy jungle valley. But, it's on tracks like 'No Knees' and 'Slow Burn' that Vole most forcefully mark their territory. Angular, Progpunk chops and jerky non-rock riffs give way to loose and unhurried interludes of group improvisation.These, in turn are punctured by explosive bursts of energy and throbbing investigations of extended textural posture. And all the time, the killer riffs are straining to break through, like barely restrained, frothmouthed dogs snarling at the end of a leash. Features Roland Ramanan (Trumpet), Roberto Sassis (Guitars) & Javier Carmona (Drums).