Sophie Agnel, John Edwards, Steve Noble - Three on a Match (2024) [Hi-Res]

Recorded at Cafe OTO last year, 'Three on a Match' finds pianist Sophie Agnel alongside bassist John Noble and drummer Steve Noble, filling her instrument with ping pong balls, wooden blocks and tin cans to render it almost unrecognisable.

'Three on a Match' is a free improv record, for sure, but Agnel, Edwards and Noble sound as if they've been liberated from the expectations usually put on players to actually play recognisable sounds. The first half of 'Part 1' is a fascinating inventory of the trio's thought process that deconstructs each instrument. French vanguard Agnel has been working for some time to distance herself from the piano's keyboard, figuring out different ways to play that might provoke different sounds and techniques. Noble takes a similar approach with percussion, surrounding his drum kit with bells, gongs and rubber balls to wrench himself from usual rhythmic modes. When the music does take shape, coalescing around Agnel's manic hits and Edwards' rubbery rhythms, it refuses to bend into an identifiable form, even on the relatively more formal 'Part 2'.

This central section is the meat of the album, clocking in at 33 minutes, and the trio get to show their chops here, with Edwards and Noble almost ricocheting off each other while Agnel fractures bebop forms into chopped off recollections that halt almost before they've started. These bursts of energy are balanced by extended meditations that descend into near silence while the trio tease alien screams and uneven rhythms from their modified set of tools.

Tracklist:
1. Sophie Agnel - Part 1 (08:58)
2. John Edwards - Part 2 (33:12)
3. Sophie Agnel - Part 3 (06:48)