There is no doubt that Keith Rowe is an artist of immense importance to Erstwhile Records. The double album, where English improviser clashed with Sachiko M, can serve as an angle from which one can discern a certain course, distinctly defined although not filled in. It's a course of multi-CD, most frequently double, releases. Following chronologically, when it comes to Rowe, we come across Duos for Doris with John Tilbury, Cloud with Oren Ambarchi, Christian Fennesz and Toshimaru Nakamura and Between, recorded with the just mentioned Japanese artist. Nakamura also accompanies Sachiko M and Otomo Yoshihide on Good Morning Good Night. Add Rowe as the last ingredient to the mix and we get the monumental three CD ErstLive 005.

Contact is also a part of the ErstLive sub-series, whose three newest parts contain recordings of Rowe's performances during the AMPLIFY 2008 festival: light (one with Taku Unami, a solo performance and one more with Nakamura). A 20 minute improvisation with Sachiko M concludes the reviewed release (here entitled “Circle”). It's the only piece, where the Japanese artist puts a contact microphone into action. In the remaining compositions she employs her trademark instrument, namely an unloaded sampler, armed only with a test signal - a sinusoid wave. Keith Rowe's set up is patched together from a guitar, objects used for guitar preparation and electronics. Those who know his artistic output certainly have noticed that any recognizable tones of a guitar successively fade from his electronic production. This album is no different. Only occasionally we get to hear unfolding string sounds, touched with or treated with an object. In most cases the listener is surrounded by completely abstract knocks, clicks, scratches, squeals and buzz.

And sinusoid, constant and homogeneous, occupies the most of the initial piece entitled "Square", which, by the way, exceeds 40 minutes in playing time and becomes thus the longest track of the release. The constancy of sonic manufacture, offered by Sachiko M, makes it a rather burdensome partner for improvised dialogue. Obviously it shouldn't be too easy, yet when the scene comes to an end I can't rid myself of a the impression that the first encounter wasn't particularly successful. Following attempts are rewarded with better results and the upward tendency progresses, which is what moulds the second CD into a more interesting structure. It doesn't bother me that the artists compose their improvisations from both sound and silence. I'm not concerned with lack of action (events), but somewhat miss reaction. On the other flip it might be my fault and I just wasn't able to pinpoint connections between given elements. I also ponder whether the tension, accumulated during live performance, impressed itself on "Circle", as it seems to be more coherent and compelling. At the same time, even with increased activity, the album manages to avoid the previously perceptible malady, namely a feeling of randomness and overload.

I might be impressed by the reductionist turn, the urge to distil the essential components, the courage in search but not necessarily by its translation into sonic results.