Music review: From Scratch in good heart

Phil Dadson, artist/musician, leads From Scratch's much-anticipated return. New Zealand Herald Photograph: Michael Craig.

Imagine Night at the Museum given an alt.music twist, and you catch something of the wonderment and exhilaration of From Scratch's Heart'Heart performances.

For 90 minutes, Phil Dadson and his seven musicians move from level to level in Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, bringing sound and life to the fantastical, sculptural instruments displayed in the corresponding 546 Moons survey exhibition.

The journey starts on the rooftop, with exotic drums against spectacular sunset and ends floors below with dinner plates whirling to silence, a clever Kiwi take on avant-garde composer Ligeti's army of metronomes.

Framed by material from From Scratch's 1998 Global Hockets, the evening encompasses present and past, with a new work POWWOW featuring signature PVC pipes slapped into expressionist noir.

There's no need to ponder the complex mathematics behind the earlier DrumWheel when it's theatrically focused around the spinning Carol Brown, a graceful dervish, laden with chiming pipes.

Dadson remains the eternal sonic Mesmer. At one point, you're hypnotised by musicians simply stepping from foot to foot in preparation; at another, there's a sense of utter elation when you succumb to visceral rhythms only to have it all diffuse into unexpected strands.

The clang of metal transmutes as if by alchemy to that of hollow wood and PVC; an ethereal chorus of bowed bells lead to the bouncing clip-clop of hocketing voices.
Sonic links accompany our journeying, as when a solitary bowed instrument, blended with the electronic burr created by Michael Hodgson and Paddy Free of Pitch Black, awaited us upstairs.

We are immersed in a veritable world of music for these 90 minutes. While complex rhythmic play often references Africa, capriciously liquid tones evoke Javanese gamelan; there are echoes of Caribbean steel drums, Pacific log drums and even the chiming sweetness of Western pop. It's a trip to savour.

* Heart'Heart accompanies From Scratch's 546 Moons exhibition, which looks back over the avant-garde ensemble's sonic innovations and invented instruments since its 1974 formation. What: Auckland Arts Festival — From Scratch Heart' Heart
Where & when: Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery; March 23, 24 & 25
Reviewer: William Dart