The Necks are an experimental jazz trio from Sydney, Australia, comprising Chris Abrahams on piano and Hammond organ, Tony Buck on drums, percussion and electric guitar and Lloyd Swanton on bass guitar and double bass. The band plays improvisational pieces of up to an hour in length that explore the development and demise of repeating musical figures.
Typically a live performance will begin very quietly with one of the musicians playing a simple figure. One by one, the other two will join with their own contributions, all three players independent yet intertwined. As the 'piece' builds through subtle micro-changes, the interaction of their instruments creates layers of harmonics and prismatic washes of sound that lead some to the appellation 'trance jazz'. Instant by instant, their music seems driven not so much by the convention of cause and effect, but by the 'insistent demand of the moment'. Consequently their live performances can be challenging for those expecting a conventional musical experience, as the Necks' music may remain in a seemingly interminable 'holding pattern' until, paradoxically, sufficient momentum has built up for a break-out into the next phase of development.
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