Review of THE SEALED KNOT 'LIVE AT CAFE OTO' at TOUCHING EXTREMES written by MASSIMO RICCI

A health-improving certification of a set from 2009, when The Sealed Knot performed at the Another Timbre festival. Just over 31 minutes that manage once more to transfer an awareness of existential foregone conclusions, changelessly related by this writer to the gravity of protracted tones supported by a “disciplined” semi-subterranean imbalance. This renders extended stretches of stratified frequencies the closest thing to disconnecting from the senses, in spite of those very senses intensifying their receptivity in the process.

The realization of a room filling up with acoustic conditions immediately detected as recuperative is one of the most breathtaking intuitions experienced by a primed listener. Certain records – Live At Cafe Oto unquestionably belonging there – instantly light up the bulbs of private absorption and proportional willingness to be subjected to a thorough unification with an encompassing vibrancy. The immaterial nearness characterizing the instrumentalists’ attitude portrays their actions as veritable orbits of undulation; despite the overall density, we’re still allowed a coup d’oeil at what someone is doing in given junctures. An integrity permeated with wisdom incidental to vital principles and researching pertinacity. There is no way of falling in the trap of undignified instant-by-instant chronicling, a nearly offensive act in analogous occasions.

I will restrict myself and tell you that the “huge cat purr” anterior to the eventual silence is alone worth of securing a copy of this item, which comes lodged in a sturdy metal box. It’s nice to see Confront reactivated after such a long time; and as I’m enjoying a 48-hour continuum with this concise marvel, nothing attempting to affect my ephemeral calmness gets relevant enough. We’re (almost) all diminutive derivations of the proverbial Big Note, hopefully returning there at last; Beins, Davies and Wastell are brilliant path-finding guides, providing a necessary admonishment about everything else’s ineffectualness.