Catching up with Impakt Records: Part II

By Nick Ostrum

Impakt Records is a label dedicated to documenting Cologne’s free improvisation scene, much of which revolves around the club Loft Köln. The imprint has been in operation since 2016, and, since those early days, has accumulated nearly 40 releases. In a two-part series, I review the five released in 2024 and so far in 2025.(See part one here)

Sylvain Monchocé and Daniel Studer – Duo (Impakt, 2024) 

Although rare combinations are becoming increasingly common in free improv, I have not encountered many, or maybe even a single, other gayageum-bass combo. Leave it to Daniel Studer, who has released a string of boundary-pushing releases over the years, to partake in such an experiment. His partner on this recording, Sylvain Monchocé, is new to me, though admittedly I am familiar with few other gayageum players apart from DoYeon Kim.

The music on the modestly titled Duois measured but powerful. Studer lays into his rubbings, stabs and fat-snap pizzicato, but also holds tones, which allows Monchocé space to scrape and strain his strings. I am not sure what traditional gayageum technique is, but Monchocé seems to be stretching that beyond its limits, offering no melodies and few crisp notes (Sixth Dialog being an exception for both musicians), but (figuratively) turning his instrument on its head, much as Studer does to his bass. Sometimes this results in harsh but beautiful moments of convergence, such as four minutes into the Fourth Dialogue. Even then, however, the instruments remain separate. I rarely mistake one for the other even among all the muted pizzicato, scrapes, various contortions, and other opportunities for the strings to blend. Instead, the timbres balance one another. I am not sure I am surprised, but Duois certainly a unique but wonderfully complementary pairing that shuns the classical European and Korean idioms in pursuit of non-traditional, denationalized, and particularly fertile common ground.

T.ON – T.ON Meets Sarah Davachi (Impakt, 2024) 

Recorded at the church/gallery/concert hall Kunst-Station Sankt Peter Köln, T.ON meets Sarah Davachi captures the trio of Matthias Muche (trombone), Constantin Herzog (double bass) and Etienne Nillesen (snare drum) in collaboration with the wonderful, and wonderfully patient, organist Sarah Davachi. The former have appeared on Impakt releases numerous times in various combinations. Canadian-turned-Angelino Sarah Davachi is quite active in the modern classical scene and has 30-some releases under her belt.

Meets Sarah Davachiconsists of one track of wonderful long drones, layering, entwining, enveloping and subduing each other. This makes sense with Much, Herzog and Davachi, but Nillesen must be in there somewhere. It seems he uses his snare more for reverb or subtle rubbings than anything conventional. The result is a cauldron of hollow, harrowing sounds of overlapping tones, wind and friction. What distinguish Meets Sarah Davachi are the fine variations, the subtle gurgles and pitch oscillations, the implications but absence of synthesized sound, and the skillful, patient and generally monodirectional development of the composition. This is insistent and exciting music, precisely because of its fine shades of monochrome. A dramatic downturn in the last couple minutes, moreover, reveals the space of the church, as the organ gives way to bird sounds, soft scrapes, and vaulted reverberation and tonal decay. This, of course, only adds to the mystery of it all.

Marlies Debacker and Salim(a) Javaid – Convolution (Impakt, 2024) 

Convolution is a duo between Belgian pianist Marlies Debacker (here also on clavinet) and Pakistani-Czech saxophonist Salim(a) Javaid, both of whom have worked for significant periods in Köln, most notably in the augmented contemporary chamber trio Trio Abstrakt. Given their history of collaboration, one would expect strong communication and responsivity. And, well, this album delivers on those fronts.

From the first notes, then silences, one gets a sense this will be an intimate and patient affair. Debacker plays soft, enigmatic tones likely elicited from playing inside the piano and Javaid whisps in reply. Both musicians exercise masterful control of their instruments, likely derived from their contemporary classical backgrounds. Although these compositions (three by Javaid, two by Debacker) would fit in such a setting – the sparsity allows for resonance that would shine beautifully in a proper concert hall – they also wend and surprise enough to point to influences from the freer musics, less jazz than free improv and contemporary extended-technique experimentation. Maybe this blending and blurring is what the album title and the track Convulted, one of the busiest on the album, reference. The latter roils and gurgles with the best of that non-idiomatic European tradition. Compulsive, the following track, consists of harsh, contorted swipes over a piano that veers from Schoenberg to Jacques Demierre to who knows where. Amplfied, one of two live tracks, transitions from Debacker rubbing her piano strings to a series of glissando striations backed by fuzzy, heavy chords to a near blow-out. Dusky, the concluding piece, consists of long piano chords and saxophone tones, possibly augmented and elongated by electronic manipulations, or just expertly rendered acoustically.

Convolutionis unassuming and understated, but entirely captivating in its technique, concentration, and emotion. Simply (but quietly) put: wow.

With that, we are all caught up. All releases are available on CD and as downloads at Bandcamp via the links above.