Bik Bent Braam

In their 'Extremity' project, Bik Bent Braam is literally searching for the extremities of musical variables. Both in the improvisations and in the written material, they seek the boundaries of volume ('full blast', 'most velvety soft'), pitch ('high as the tallest tower', 'most profoundly deep'), density ('most rarefied', 'most amorphous'), temperament ('perfectly relaxed', 'ultra-nervous') and playability ('super-easy', 'fiendishly difficult'). Just like Willem Breuker and Misha Mengelberg, Michiel Braam makes use of all sorts of existing musical material, elements of which are cited, transposed and transferred into an alienating whole. They are given a contrasting instrumental perspective. Secondary motifs are promoted to primary status and themselves become springboards for new motifs.