Concert Wrekmeister Harmony à Marseille le 29 mars 2020

A project named after a Béla Tarr film wouldn't be your run of the mill musical endeavour, based on that fact alone, but ever since visionary composer and musician JR Robinson first started operating under that moniker, with the initial objective of performing long pieces in public spaces such as various museums, a mausoleum and even the Golden Gate Bridge, the development of Wrekmeister Harmonies has been an absolute joy to behold. 2009 saw the release of a compilation of some of those public performances, but the first studio recording proper came only in 2013 with the tremendous You've Always Meant So Much To Me, an album which boasted a staggering list of collaborators which included Jef Whitehead, Sanford Parker and Bruce Lamont, among others. This signalled the beginning of an impressively fertile period of releases, during which the collaborative and open nature of the project blossomed amazingly – throughout Then It All Came Down (2014) and Night Of Your Ascension (2015, a recording featuring 30 musicians!), JR enlisted the likes of Marissa Nadler, David Yow or Chip King, among many, may other luminaries. The music, however, never once felt disjointed or scattered – these pieces hold together tightly and strongly, always gracefully fluttering between genres, making up a few new ones along the way, and forcefully driving their deep and thoughtful messages home with an evocative power second to none.