The band’s twenty first album, Three, Releasing March 27th vis Northern Spy Records
From 2018:
The Necks closed out their 2019 with winning Best Jazz Act at Australia’s National Live Music Awards, and to kick off 2020, the Australian cult trio announced their 21st album, Three, which will be released in North America on March 27th, 2020, via Northern Spy Records. The release aptly features three tracks that are each distinct statements of the singular musical path Chris Abrahams (piano), Lloyd Swanton (bass), and Tony Buck (drums/percussion) have been forging over the past 30 years.
Hailed as “the greatest trio on earth” (The New York Times) and recently as “one of the most entrancing live acts in the world” (The Guardian), The Necks will tour in Australia starting February 15th, and will then make their return to North America in March. Tickets are now on sale.
Three will premiere in full on March 3rd, 2020, on The Lot Radio at 3pm with special guests and more information to be announced. The broadcast will be streamable worldwide at this link: www.thelotradio.com.
Three, the 21st album from legendary Australian instrumental trio The Necks, is a winding, textural, and visceral musical exploration through three individual, contrasting tracks that each delve into separate tenets of their sound. Three’s variety of tones and structures offer a glimpse into the boundless, immersive sonic universe The Necks have been constructing, through recorded and live performance, for over 30 years: three musicians, three variable songs, highlighting three decades of groundbreaking experimental excellence.
From its very first moments, “Bloom” rattles and propels listeners through a dense, mesmerizing soundscape of unceasing intensity. Directly juxtaposing the consuming rattle of the opener, “Lovelock,” dedicated to the memory of Damien Lovelock, former frontman of The Celibate Rifles, is a weightless and atmospheric threnody that ruminates in the quiet and overwhelming moments of grief. The final setting of Three is one of warmth and familiarity. “Further” is a confident, seductive groove in a quintuple meter, reminiscent of the groups’ work on records like Sex (1989) and Aquatic (1994).
Contrasting the style of their celebrated improvisational live act, the group’s studio work is meticulously sculpted from beginning to end. On Three, Chris Abrahams (piano), Lloyd Swanton (bass), Tony Buck (drums/percussion), and their long-time backend collaborators Tim Whitten (engineer) and Doug Henderson (master) have again scrupulously built music that focuses on the most intricate edges of staggeringly immense, diverse worlds. From strained to still to smoky, each piece of Three marks itself as distinct and its own, but all feel representative of Australia’s greatest cult band, The Necks.
Three will be released in North America on CD and digitally by Northern Spy Records March 27th.
Tour Dates
02/15 – Street Theatre, Canberra
02/16 – Playhouse, Sydney Opera House (two sets), Sydney
02/17 – Corner Hotel, Melbourne
02/18 – Corner Hotel, Melbourne
02/19 – The Rechabite, Perth Festival
02/20 – The Rechabite, Perth Festival
02/21 – RCC 2020 – Adelaide University, Adelaide Festival
02/22 – MONA, Hobart
02/29 – CPAC, Cairns
03/07 – Music By the Sea, Brisbane
03/24 – The Press Room, Portsmouth, NH
03/26 – Le Poisson Rouge (early show), New York, NY
03/26 – Le Poisson Rouge (late show), New York, NY
03/28 – Big Ears Festival, Knoxville, TN
03/29 – Big Ears Festival, Knoxville, TN
04/01 – Holland Theatre, Bellefontaine, OH
04/02 – Mission Creek Festival, Iowa City, IA
04/04 – The Momentary, Bentonville, AR
04/06 – Zebulon, Los Angeles, CA
04/07 – Zebulon, Los Angeles, CA
04/09 – The North Door, Austin, TX
04/10 – Constellation, Chicago, IL
04/11 – Constellation, Chicago, IL
04/18 – Kings Place, London, UK
From 1989
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