Review: Yarn/Wire and Pete Swanson, Eliminated Artist

Yarn/Wire are a New York ensemble of a seldom-seen stripe – two pianists, two percussionists. Eliminated Artist pairs them with Pete Swanson, formerly half of the improvising American noise duo Yellow Swans. The first fruits of this collaboration, and indeed the title track, are to be found on the B side – a live recording from Brooklyn’s Issue Project Room in March 2012. Here, the collaboration is subtle and complex. Pianos circle one another in wary contemplation, flurries of percussion shake the piece into a manic vigour; but what’s live and what’s recorded is unclear, as Swanson, on electronics and tape, is flowing in fragments of the ensemble’s improvised rehearsals. Neat, but the heavy firepower is deployed on side one’s “Corrections”, which finds the ensemble hammering gongs around fragments of Swanson giving one of Peter Zinovieff’s unruly old Putney VCS3 analogue synths a good going over.