Short Reviews [Dwiki Dharmawan - 2020 - "Hari Ketiga"]

Leonardo Pavkovic has long been a fan of the residential recording studio Casamurada to get the best out of improvisational musicians, and in May 2017 he assembled another group in that environment. This time the band would be led by pianist Dwiki Dharmawan, who would provide scores for the musicians to start work with, alongside touch guitarist Markus Reuter, drummer Asaf Sirkus and singer Boris Savoldelli. I have no idea who many times I have reviewed Markus, I think the official figure is “lots”, while Asaf has also featured many times. I of course know Dwiki both for his wonderful solo albums plus his collaborations with Dewa Budjana, while I have also reviewed Salvodelli in the past as well. This meant that the length of the album didn’t worry me, at more than 150 minutes long, nor that there were only nine songs, and that much of it would be improvised. Leonardo has described this as “Arguably, the most important and the most far-reaching album I've ever released on MoonJune Records”, while Jon Davis at Expose Magazine said "This is a stunning example of what can happen when musicians are encouraged to reach beyond their comfort zones, to do things they might never have tried in more structured situations.” I listen to a very wide range of music indeed, but for me this album is more about perseverance and stamina than it is about enjoyment. This is not something one listens to for pleasure, but rather it is when someone wants to stretch their ears into areas which are not familiar and are often not even pleasant. This is experimental improvisational music being taken into new and uncharted territories, and the first time I played this I must confess that not only did I not like it, but I found myself quite opposed to the whole concept. That it is also a long album did nothing to endear it to me either, as all the musicians have taken this as an opportunity to stretch themselves and not return to a concept they feel they have already covered. This means it is difficult to get inside the album, and into the headspace to get the most out of it. I found I kept checking how much longer it had to go, which is never a good sign, and when it had finally finished, I breathed an audible sound of relief. But, I have known for many years that it is not possible to review an album having heard it only once (and anyone who feels they can review an album from only playing a few songs needs to be shot), so after I felt my ears had been restored to normality I returned to it again. This time I discovered there is an inner beauty and strength in this album, which only comes through when one can really understand what is going on, the interaction between the four musicians as they look to each other for inspiration and bounce their ideas, knowing and understanding that there is no such thing as an incorrect note or approach at any given time or moment. Instead of being a travail, instead the listening to the album became something which was invigorating and exciting, and I started to comprehend why some people I admire have been saying such positive things about it. This is not an easy listen, it is jarring and uncomfortable, often quite painful, yet there is depth and brilliance contained within it, leaving musicians and listeners emotionally spent at the end. This will only be of interest to a very small minority of musical explorers, and even those are going to find this hard to take in on the first time of playing, but for those prepared to spend the time then this is something quite special.