The Necks

Rightly regarded as a cult band not only in Australia, The Necks have carved out a unique musical identity. Their sound is incomparable: hypnotic yet alert, laid-back yet intensely present. In the classic trio formation of piano, double bass and drums, the three musicians from Sydney play a relaxed, subtle, and buoyant music whose charm gradually reveals itself as utterly irresistible.

Beginning with a small musical idea – a motivic seed that seems to appear out of nowhere – melodic and rhythmic patterns unfold on bass, piano or drums, supporting an entire piece that lasts between 45 and 60 minutes. These patterns are continually and minimally varied, re-energised, and disrupted in surprising ways by subtle interjections. Flowing rhythms shift almost imperceptibly into new patterns through changes in accent.

The Necks play a music that resists description using conventional terminology. Working through familiar musical vocabulary, they have arrived at an entirely new place. In their minimalist, stripped-down approach to musical building blocks and fragments, The Necks reach a paradoxical state between stasis and flow, between cool detachment and a dreamlike déjà-vu – standing as something utterly unique in the world of jazz, if one can even call it jazz, or in the world of music as a whole.