Dunning and Underwood - The Blow Volume 5

by Maarten Schiethart

published: 11 / 3 / 2019

Dunning and Underwood - The Blow Volume 5

Label: Front and Follow
Format: Tape

Understated but striking combination of electronic and acoustic music from organist Graham Dunning and percussionist Sam Underwood

Review

Dunning and Underwood produce a side each of this arresting cassette in The Blow series on Front and Follow. Two-thirds of the DunningWebsterUnderwood trio now have it their own way. Graham Dunning, an autodidact musician and artist, shows off his ability as an organ player who given the opportunity might also play the theremin and harpsichord without further ado. Yet he does not. On 'Song for Chimney Stacks' and 'Trapped in a Walled Garden' Dunning sets out to test the listener's expectations. Try to imagine jazz music without drum and bass. It does help when you know that 'dunning' literally means thinning in Dutch. Evident on Side A of the cassette; Graham Dunning masters sobering sounds and aptly knows how to fuse frail patterns. His trimmed electronic music paves the way for the percussionist in the DunningWebsterUnderwood trio, Sam Underwood. Sam Underwood cherishes snap, crackle and pop noises of all kinds, and on the flipside of the cassette he manipulates these sounds as if playing them on an instrument. 'In Suggestible State' he conjures up the sort of sounds where you'd expect a snake to rise up next to you. Probably using just two or three snares, Underwood achieves great momentum. The start of 'Padlocks on Bridge'shows without any doubt that Underwood can make an instrument out of whatever he has on hand. By simply banging on a found object, he can construct music from there. When Underwood taps on an object, you'd hear a tune. The five Underwood tracks on the B-Side of The Blow Volume 5 cassette build a whole. Halfway through the 25 minutes allotted to him, the avant-jazz on 'Padlocks on Bridge' with its quaint two-step rhythms, sets the pace. Before and after, the idiotic simplicity of sounds could have taken you away but the firm middle points leave you pondering. Who stole the bass and drums from this? Whereas Dunning owes much to church organ music, Underwood fancied adventure. But just the same, it's a coherent collection of striking ideas set to both electronic and acoustic music, and graced with an overall quiet charm. Contemporary chamber music on cassette.