The music on Triangular Screen comes from two concerts in Scandinavia in March and May 2000.
Tony Oxley plays his acoustic-only drum set and prerecorded tape. He is accompanied by Tonny Kluften on double bass and Ivar Grydeland on electric guitar. Anyone familiar with the drummer's recordings with
Derek Bailey will feel at home here. Grydeland's style is more textural than the master's, his scratching and odd sounds putting him closer to René Lussier or Hans Tammen, but the spirit of the early Incus LPs still prevails.
Oxley leads throughout. His playing is as enjoyable as ever, but one wishes he would come down off his pedestal once in a while to listen more closely to what the local figures are trying to contribute to the session. He seems to be following his own agenda, rarely leaving any room for the guitar or bass to stretch. When he does simmer down, the younger players shrink their sound on the spot to bring things to an end instead of grabbing the occasion to stir the improvisation in another direction. Grydeland especially deserved more than a supporting cast role, as he would prove with his duo CD with Ingar Zach, released later the same year. Fans of
Oxley will probably enjoy Triangular Screen as one of his average performances.