Laurence Pike - Holy Spring

The Quietus

Australian percussionist Laurence Pike is the thread that connects Liars to Bill Callahan via his other group, Szun Waves. He is an exceptional collaborator in demand for his ability to play in the spaces between genres, making categories seem strange illusions. His solo work is a marvel, radiating the absolute confidence of a man in command of his instruments and making very difficult things seems inevitable. The title track from his acclaimed 2018 album Distant Early Warning is a very good example, a quiet storm of drums rolling in like weather.

New release Holy Spring is a ritual record of nine tracks, deliberately and carefully structured to release the sounds of the beyond. The sound on this record is more restrained, at least on the surface, with more room around the constantly shifting rhythms. With Pike, that means more chances to be sucked in by the subtlety of his playing.

There are relatively few lead, solo percussionists because it is difficult to deliver the variety and the texture required to keep the listener engaged. No such problem here. On tracks such as ‘Drum Chant’, Pike places his irresistible live playing alongside sampled vocals and flutes, upending the standard track hierarchy. There are hints of Jon Hassell in the result, an immersive soundscape channelling close-pressed, chanting bodies and a powerful, layered evocation. All the tracks on Holy Spring have a ritual titles, from ‘Mystic Circles’ to ‘Taught by Spirits’, the former building anticipation with humming electronics and an unsettling rattle of tom toms, the latter a parade of bell-ringing, rim-shooting, block-hammering manifestations.

Throughout, Pike plays with a variety that is completely engrossing. He creates a hyper-aware universe of constant, new, undefinable sound, that only he could make. But it belongs to all of us. He expresses himself through performance with a commitment that goes far beyond energy and will. He channels the multiple layers of his skill and experience to give us a music that sounds inevitable, but belies its complexity. Holy Spring is a mature and enthralling work that gives us real ritual. Ceremonies taken seriously that generate real power.

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The Guardian 80

(The Leaf Label)

A solo album by an improvisational drummer would in most circumstances elicit a wary groan, but Australia’s Laurence Pike is no ordinary percussionist. He’s played with a miscellany of jazzers (notably pianist Mike Nock), and embraced genres from psych to electronica to spiritual jazz. Nonetheless, his 2018 debut, Distant Early Warning, was a surprise, blending Pike’s rhythmic skills with sounds culled from a drumpad sampler to create an uber-ambient suite, part acoustic, part electronic.

Holy Spring doubles down on that approach with impressive results. It’s inspired by Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (Russian title Sacred Spring), and aims “to connect with something universal”. It certainly does. Pieces such as Dance of the Earth rumble and thud, overlaid by splashes of cymbals, with more rhythmic trickery than Reich or Glass could serve up. Drum Chant, with indigenous Australian clapsticks in the mix, evokes the pulse of that continent’s vast, red interior. Elsewhere, it’s deep space that is conjured up. On Daughter of Mars, aliens appear to be calling to the blue planet, while the title track could serve as the soundtrack for a close encounter. Full of morphing grooves and moods of imminent revelation, it’s a quicksilver delight.