Coloured vinyl edition Since their founding during the second half of the 1980s, the Australian trio, The Necks - Chris Abrahams, Lloyd Swanton, and Tony Buck - have slowly emerged as an entirely singular force within the global landscape of experimental music, weaving remarkable, free flowing improvisations that rest within the border regions between Minimalism and jazz. Marked by astounding sense of artistry and musicianship, there is, quite simply, no other band like them. Just a year on from 2023’s absolute stunner, “Travel” - The Neck’s second outing with the American imprint Northern Spy - the trio returns to the label with “Bleed”, a single, 42-minute composition, unfurling at a delicate, glacial paces that seems to distill the nearly 40 years of collaboration within its dazzling interplay, endlessly pushing toward new, uncharted ground. Issued by Northern Spy in two beautifully produced vinyl editions - black and green - as well as a CD edition, housed in a deluxe wallet with printed inner sleeve, it’s yet another towering and entirely engrossing achievement by one of the greatest bands working today.

Drawing upon the diverse musical backgrounds of each of its members, The Necks were founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1987 by Chris Abrahams (piano / Hammond organ), Tony Buck (drums / percussion / electric guitar) and Lloyd Swanton (bass). Even from their earliest emergence into the global consciousness with their debut full-length, 1989's “Sex”, the group entirely stood out from the pack, demarcating a minimal zone at the more experimental reaches of jazz (if it can even be called that thing). Defined by a rare sense of acoustic purity, restraint, and a singular creative vision, guided into being by unparalleled musicianship and mutual respect amongst its three members, over the decades, and across roughly two dozen full-lengths, The Necks have ebbed and flowed, creating a music that feels remarkably open while precise, their pieces evolving slowly over their durations, focusing the ear toward microscopic details, in understated tapestries of sonority that engage an endless sense of surprise from the most elemental means.

In the simplest sense, The Necks are a band that feel as though they have nothing to prove - three artists in close conversation, easing forward as a single, collective force - while making music that is earth-shatteringly understated to profound effect: the minimal, maximised. Their latest, “Bleed”, might just be their most striking statement, to this effect, to date. Comprising a single, 42-minute composition, the album displays a clearer bearing of its sophisticated inner workings and tensions than some of the band’s previous releases. Constructed from the trio’s familiar pallet of structures, “Bleed” is a glacial movement of rhythmical and textural elements, and tones produced by piano, bass, and drums, with guitar occasionally woven in. An open and spacious image of creative restraint, Abrahams, Buck, and Swanton’s interventions and responses hang in the air with grace, flirting within an expanded sense of time that withholds the satiation of tension and release that has helped define The Necks' sound over the years, feeling at times so deconstructed and drawn out, that it, in moments, undermines an explicit sense of musicality: presenting a musical journey where the arrival is the journey itself.

Nothing short of astounding, and as close to a masterpiece as The Necks have ever produced, “Bleed” is a listening experience that holds the potential of changing our perceptions of music itself and the possibilities presented by group collaboration. In the most subtle of ways, it represents a giant leap for the group. If The Necks are a group that sound like no one else, “Bleed” is a record that almost defines that sound but could only be made by them. Issued by Northern Spy in two beautifully produced vinyl editions - black and green - as well as a CD edition, housed in a deluxe wallet with printed inner sleeve, this a ten out of ten and beyond. Easily among the best records of the year and absolutely essential for everyone under the sun.