The Necks Mindset Import LP

Long-awaited reissue of The Necks' 2011 masterpiece, Mindset. Always different, here the Necks resolutely layer polyrhythmic material to form seething blocks of sound - in two long pieces, one more stripped back to the live trio, the other featuring multiple strata of swirling Hammonds, noise-guitar, and electronics. Their 16th release still resonates on its own.

Australian improv trio the Necks have been making something out of very little for 16 albums. This one features just two 21-minute tracks of pulsing grooves over which tiny shifts of fragmentary melody and textural detail occur. The first track, Rum Jungle, is janglier and marginally busier than the second (Daylights). It begins with Lloyd Swanton's acoustic bass murmurings, hushed bell-like noises, plucked-strings and a throbbing drone beneath. There's also a hustling counter-pulse, so the two rhythms sound as if they're racing each other. A rising and falling melodic motif emerges, thickens into trills, and then an organlike hum. Daylights is gentler, with a long opening section of pinging high sounds and dripping noises eventually joined by what sounds like quiet, slow Hammond organ blues licks, and a finale that suggests jingling harnesses and squeaky cart axles. Considering so little happens, you find yourself inexplicably drawn in.