It all starts so slowly. There they are, those short, warm organ chords that wake you from your slumber. Like the feeling of rubbing your eyes and witnessing something once blurred now in full focus. Then the interesting stuff happens. The odd tap, the sideways click, the echo of noise. The original idea has been subjected to a filter. No longer is this a simple piece of music, but a full on exploration of sound. And this is just the opening track, ‘Copy of Brazil’, from Chris Abrahams solo album Play Scar. The same Chris Abrahams that plays piano for the experimental Jazz trio, The Necks.

Having interviewed Abrahams a couple of weeks ago, my appreciation for Play Scar has grown. The subtle blemishes of sound, noise and music were carefully pieced together over a long period of time. Each small element naturally finding its home after a period of negotiation and experimentation. I found it fascinating that the organ or piano refrain had been played, but kept back, waiting for its niche. But that doesn’t mean the album feels like a Rubicks cube of messed up colours that are audibly alien. This is an album that feels creatively focused and concise.

Witnessing The Necks play live, I was captivated by Abrahams’ playing – wonderfully natural and beautifully simple, yet full of creativity and explosive power. As a solo artist, he gets to explore areas that the Necks might not allow. There’s more electronics and trickery, like those heard on the glitch and noise filled ‘Twig Blown’. Found sounds, random synths and the odd piano refrain blend together to make it a sound experiment from seemingly disparate elements. ‘Running Out’ resounds to clanging guitar chords and slight variations of shimmering notes before the keys of a rumbling piano twinkle in. It shifts every so slightly again, the guitar cuts a line back into the composition, shining organ notes tip-toeing over the guitars harshness. There’s also an underlying feeling of nature and the landscape that seems to hide in the background, but comes to the fore on ‘Bird and Wasps’. A twisted soundtrack to a sparse walk in the woods, the clipped specks of noise clutter the silence, slowly revolving and, ultimately, showing themselves to be built on a hidden rhythm.

All these elements combine to produce an album brimming with musical wonder. Whilst Play Scar might be more “song-based” than previous solo work Thrown, this is a wonderful album of such varied and impressive compositions that you can see no end to Abrahams’ creativity.