''Aether'' is the sixth
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n
improvised music trio
The Necks first released on the Fish of Milk label in 2001 and later on the ReR label internationally. The album features a single hour-long track, titled "Aether", performed by
Chris Abrahams,
Lloyd Swanton and
Tony Buck.
Reception
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
reviewer François Couture stated "''Aether'' is simply their best release, a wonderful album that breathes at its own pace. The trick is the same as usual: start on something and play for an hour applying only gradual changes. What is different this time is the tempo -- very, very slow -- and the attitude" calling it "their most mature, captivating album. Strongly recommended.".
BBC Music's Peter Marsh said "''Aether'' is a totally immersive experience. Though they're playing with just a single chord, subtle nuances, additions and subtractions tease out new beauties within it throughout the piece. By the end, it's possible to believe that it's the only chord that ever existed, and any other music sounds hopelessly verbose. ''Aethers 64 minutes pass by with the ease of seconds but each are as elemental as the phases of the moon. Brilliant".
On
The Quietus
''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics.
Content
''The Quietu ...
Nick Southall called it "their ruminative, ambient masterpiece, as minimal and repetitive as
Basinski's ''
Disintegration Loops'' but somehow more alive, unburdened by the weight of association. It starts with tremulous reverberation, which gives way to chiming percussion and meandering, somnolent piano".
In 2012, the album was added to the
National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...
's
Sounds of Australia registry, becoming the first recording from the 21st century to be listed.
Sounds of Australia 2012 , NFSA
Retrieved 5 April 2018.
Track listing
All compositions by The Necks.
# "Aether" – 63:49
Personnel
* Chris Abrahams – piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
* Lloyd Swanton – bass
* Tony Buck – drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
References
{{Authority control
2001 albums
APRA Award winners
The Necks albums