3 out of 5

Label: Astral Spirits / Monofonus Press

Produced by: Stefan Deistler (recorded by)

Appreciation for Brötzmann’s horn squiggles and squaggles is the ticket for entry; my tolerance for this breed of free jazz is admittedly fairly low, but this seems like a make-or-break type recording, as the strings / electronics contributions of Fred Lonberg-Holm are often not utilized much (or the electronics not recorded / mixed well enough) to seemingly impact Brötzmann’s most wild tootin’ style.

I do appreciate the sibilance of the ouroboros theme, which does justify the fairly repetitive nature of this set, but also helps my resistant ears to identify a kind if build and retreat approach that gives the album / compositions structure. Still, that means we’re ultimately left with mostly variations on a theme of reeds-gone-wild, with burbling effects / plucked strings adding some color to the background. The comparatively “short” bookends to this work as frenzied examples of the template; the double-size intra-album tracks are where it becomes a plus / minus sale.

On the pluses, The Spiral actually has the duo playing in tandem, with Lonberg-Holm’s strings present and bold, and the spotlight trading off to give the song shape and weight. The indirect negative of that is that it makes closer The Fusion of Opposites return to the more free-jazz style feel less notable than on opener The Circle. But it’s second song The Figure Eight where I struggle – which ditches Lonberg-Holm’s strings early on to just let Brötzmann riff for 10+ minutes, and it has no borders; Lonberg-Holm’s electronic additions are so far into the background that it feels like an afterthought.

As usual with this stuff, more listens helps bring out its dimensions, but unless you’re already an appreciator of Peter’s (or Lonberg-Holm, but again, their presence feels unfortunately secondary here), I don’t know that there’s anything really standout to encourage those extra listens.