I know, I know. It can be R-E-A-L-L-Y hard to get into improvisational percussion, but, maybe* Claire Rousay’s “Neuter" is the crowbar your mind’s been waiting for. Sure, she’s got The
Speed in Spades, but her command of resonance through frictitious aggravations and alternating striking materials is what can** really pry one’s rhythmically-stunted mind apart, bit by beat.
No stunts here, though; her brushes/sticks/stacks are a mere extension of her fingers; her scrapes, swipes, smudges & flicks all melding into one smooth flow, like a beat boxer’s slurred consonants bending in on their own alluded lyrical finesse, a confident restraint, howling-in-negatives from the bombastic void. By the end of 13 minutes, you can almost feel the space between the hi-hat & snare’s head, the snare’s head and the underside’s wires. Concavity and open air. Excitation. Union.
In a world obsessed with aggression and release, Claire Rousay celebrates tension as its own cradled, resonating reward. Listen to this three times in a row and fall in fucking love!
and/or
— Jacob An Kittenplan
*fucking definitely
**andfuckingwill
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