tension and excitement that requires patience from both musicians and listener in building up to points of immense lyricism or rhythmic intensity that often catch one unawares, and by turns is hugely rewarding.
Ronin Rhythm Records RONO40CD
Nik Bärtsch (piano, keyboard); Sha (bass clarinet, alto saxophone); Jeremias Keller (bass); Kaspar Rast (drums)
Recorded September 2023
The album will be released together with the documentary film “Ingredients for Disaster” and with a series of six short film episodes about the bands work, philosophy and history on Nik’s YouTube channel by British director Julian Phillips.
Nik Bärtsch has been working on the music he terms ritual groove music for more than a quarter of a century. For the most part he has also retained the same band members, with Sha and Rast remaining constants as the bass chair has changed hands several times. This is the first recording with new bassist Jeremias Keller who has not only assimilated Bärtsch’s methods but also succeeded in finding his own place in the music.
When the Swiss pianist and keyboard player first presented the band Ronin all those years ago, who could have imagined the depths that Bärtsch would have uncovered in what many would have perceived as a rather narrow and formulaic framework. The reality has been somewhat contradictory to this line of thought as Ronin, and their acoustic counterpart Mobile have constantly brought forth ever more detailed and intricate, and ultimately satisfying music.
The idea of utilising contrasting rhythmic and melodic figures and grooves alongside ever complex and often superimposed time signatures is not a new one. What is fascinating is how Bärtsch has managed to continue to find new ways to incorporate these theories and techniques into a highly personal and absorbing music that continues to evolve.
No Ronin or Mobile album is ever the same, even if the pianist constantly revisits and reinvents previous compositions, and this is also true of this new recording with new pieces ‘Modul 63’ and ‘Modul 66’ rubbing shoulders with classic Ronin compositions ‘Modul 14’ and ‘Modul 23’ that have been rearranged and reinterpreted by the new line up.
Opening with the two new compositions, ‘Modul 66’ introduces driving grooves that change almost imperceptibly as the listener is swept along by drummer Rast’s rock solid in the pocket drumming, and the propulsive basslines of Keller. It is almost inconceivable to imagine who the pair when locked so tightly into the rhythmic momentum of the music that they have the time and space to bring their own elegant variations to bear on proceedings.
Reeds player Sha is predominantly featured on alto saxophone, and after twenty years with Bärtsch is perfectly attuned to the pianist’s role in what in any other ensemble would be the lead voice. With Ronin, and their acoustic counterpart, Sha is able to blend his lines into the group’s sonic energy or spin out melodic lines over the top of the grooves before disappearing back into soundscape being created by four likeminded spirits.
Equally as important is Bärtsch’s use of acoustic piano and keyboard, using the different in touch and texture from the two instruments. On ‘Modul 63’ Bärtsch seamlessly moves between electronic and acoustic sounds using both piano and keyboard to create an eery backdrop accompanied by delicate cymbal work from Rast. It is only after the mood has been created that the first hints of a theme emerge with a gentle if uneasy unison with piano and bass clarinet.
This gentle, if sometimes disturbing way, of introducing a composition is again deployed on ‘Modul 70_51’as the piece develops through its structure incorporating elements and feel from both modul compositions all with a newly arranged groove.
As with all five pieces on SPIN, the music is given time to evolve and develop, and time is the important part of ‘Modul 14’ which was first recorded more than two decades ago and remains a staple of the quartet’s repertoire. Listening again to the original version on the Roni’s 2002 album Randori it is remarkable how the music has changed, and yet in such a logical manner. Here the music is handled with a lightness of touch and a subtle groove with Sha’s alto pointing up the way ahead prior to a building of the rhythmic intensity that in still tightly reined in.
‘Modul 23’ has a relaxed and hypnotic feel that once again feature some atmospheric keyboards from Bärtsch before developing a gentle groove around the half way mark. However, Ronin are far from done with the composition as it steadily moves towards its climax with some impassioned alto playing from Sha.
The music is at once dense and bustling with activity while seemingly reassuring and familiar at the same time. This contradictory feeling that Bärtsch and Ronin create build a tension and excitement that requires patience from both musicians and listener in building up to points of immense lyricism or rhythmic intensity that often catch one unawares, and by turns is hugely rewarding.
