Wire Assembly – 8 October 2015

The guitar trio Wire Assembly have been resurrected/disinterred after 20 years of hibernation. John Jasnoch and Neil Carver have coerced Ian Simpson into being the Third Man. Covering an enormous range of sound from a blue tit pecking at an aluminium milk bottle top (there were milk bottles when we last played) to apocalyptic calamity we do recommend that you join us in this re-animation.

“The playing is a pleasure to listen to. The improvisations never lose focus or momentum—all three guitarists are adept at throwing out and accepting gambits, and often finishing each other’s phrases while doing so. The tasks of comping, playing single note lines and even hinting at a bassline—as Jasnoch does on occasion—are continually shifted around, keeping the sound moving ahead. Particularly exciting are those moments when a spontaneous, obliquely jazz-like chord progression breaks out, as when Jasnoch and Simpson do the free improv equivalent of chase choruses over Carver’s motile harmonies.” (Avant Music News)

“The guitar trio Wire Assembly has reappeared after 20 years of hibernation. John Jasnoch and Neil Carver, from the original 1985 line-up, have been joined by Ian Simpson as the new Third Man. The idea remains very simple – to explore the sound of electric guitars – sometimes playing music that we expect from these instruments and then sounds that we don’t. Sometimes resolutely modernist at other times verging on populist.” (Over the Top, 2014)