Great Barrier - Repetition LP

Great Barrier is a project undertaken by Constantine “Dino” Karlis (HDU, Dimmer, Alastair Galbraith, Sonic Boom/Spectrum, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Foundling) and two neuroscientist-musicians he was artistically drawn to: Jason Kerr (My Deviant Daughter, Southkill) and Richard Hahnloser. The latter’s piano and synthesizer playing adds a minimalist-jazz-inspired harmonic flow to the band’s idiosyncratic sound which amalgamates drone, improv, noise, dub, and field recordings. In creating the body of work titled Repetition, the lineup of Kerr (Dunedin expat, lives in Bonn, Germany) on guitar and bass, Karlis (Dunedin expat, lives in Berlin, Germany) on drums, and Hahnloser (from Zurich, Switzerland) is augmented by late NZ musician and composer Dean Roberts (Thela, White Winged Moth, Thurston Moore) who contributed guitar on one song. Roberts died unexpectedly last year, aged 49. The influences are many and evolving, you can most likely hear them. That’s what happens the more you do this kind of thing, the surprises are few and far between, but when they arrive, they are welcome. Karlis, Kerr, and Roberts brought the drone and noise from their collective experience, but they turned it way down, adding depth and a churning groove. Hahnloser’s melodic and textural improvs provide the focus. The result lies in an interstitial space: between the complex simplicity of The Necks; Porter Ricks’ woozy throb; Can fronted by a disoriented Keith Jarrett; Joy Division in a tropical rainforest.  The band navigates the margins with subtlety, crafting pieces that are equal parts unsettling and soothing. Their combined histories seep through, but it’s the understated shifts and textures here that genuinely captivate. It’s a slow-burning dialogue that offers rewards.