The fundamental rhythm of unpolished brains

"This Swiss sextet's fourth CD opens with complex orchestrations of two lengthy, enigmatic lyrics by the band's compatriot Brigitte Wullimann. They're in English, like the one other long song here, full of striking imagery, and expressive singing and playing, and sound as if those involved heard Paul Haines' work with Carla Bley on her legendary Escalator Over the Hill at an impressionable age ... It could be a car crash, but in fact the effect is dangerously enjoyable, the way Django Bates' ensemble writing often is, ideas shouldering one another unceremoniously out of the way. Like the music of one of the inspirations Schaerer cites himself, Frank Zappa, the sound is often superficially anarchic but the arrangements, sliding from interlocking rhythms to free jazz and back again, call for an iron discipline ... The final brew is an effervescent European mix, reminiscent of those achieved by groups coming out of the 1970s Dutch avant garde like Willem Breuker'sKollektief.Hildegard walk the same tightrope, lacing jazzy exuberance with quirky humour".