Short Reviews [Hydrogen Band - 2024 - "H2 One"]

In 1980, Dave Newhouse (keyboards), Barney Jones (guitar), and Bev Stephenson (synth) dragged their gear into the basement studio at the Mars Everywhere house (Barney was a member of Mars Everywhere at the time) and recorded a series of tapes straight through without stopping and no overdubs. This EP, which contains two tracks with a total playing time of more than 20 minutes, is the first in a series of three recordings which will be made available on Bandcamp, having been de-mixed and re-mastered by Ian Beabout at the Rec. Room. Dave is these days often asked to provide his wonderful woodwind playing on multiple albums, but he has always been a keyboard player as well, but I think this is the first work of his I have come across where he is only playing keys, apart from possibly some live recordings in The Muffins. Consequently it seems quite strange, but there is never any doubt that he is in a room with kindred spirits as he and Bev combine to create some wonderful sounds while Barney carefully pays attention and adds nuances, or sits out of a section, or rides roughshod with distortion over the top. As well as being a fine musician in his own right, Ian Beabout is doing some wonderful work these days and he has managed to provide a clarity here which makes it sound as if this was recorded in the finest digital studio only a few days ago, as opposed to in a basement more than 40. This is wonderful improvised electronic jazz which has nods to ambient as well as Canterbury and I look forward to the next two with great interest.