Joe Williamson

An underground tunnel, ominous subterranean rumbles, clawing scratches and clicks, nameless energies scrape and growl ― so begins Hoard, 41 minutes of breathless solo bass-istry by Canadian ex-pat Joe Williamson. Williamson (now residing in Stockholm) has spent more than a decade in European centres of new music and improv creativity, and it shows in the demands he makes of the listener. Long arco passages focused on minute microtonal fluctuations under-girded by low-end double stops are central to the first of the two extended pieces, "Inadvertent Attraction of Suspicion." Close attention is needed to catch the myriad nuances. Reminiscent of virtuoso Fernando Grillo's Fluvine, Hoard concentrates on sonorities and textures, not notes. As a consequence, listeners looking for melodic and rhythmic development will find themselves adrift in the hair-split salience of strings bowed, rubbed and thrummed for the sheer sensuality of their vibrational palpability. Hoard rewards deep listening.