Set up in the well-lit sunny surroundings of the winter gardens of the Karlsberg Library to an audience of around 300 people, after an introduction explaining his current work, Fripp begins a concert of sublimely reflective Frippertronics. The opening piece sees drifting banks of notes slowly accruing, from which smaller skittish figures later take flight from the fretboard and begin filling the air.
The intensity building at around the five minute mark of the first piece, as darker bass tones swell and slides beneath the taut repeating notes, is another example of how the guitarist introduces dramatic tension in the music without recourse to histrionics or showmanship, producing something that is utterly engrossing, absorbing and deeply satisfying.
Originally working with a bootleg cassette, DGM engineer Alex “Stormy Mundy, was struck by the performance. “I felt that the music was very moving, and it really did connect with me. So I went into the Frippertronics archive and transferred the actual ¼” reel and have put the two together, as with previous shows, e.g. Fripp & Eno. I could have just uploaded the reel to reel tape, but the boot cassette really does add a presence to this show.”
Fripp’s introduction sums up the concert, and by extension, this download, perfectly.
“The idea of this event is not that I’m important, or that you are important but that we are all of equal value...the idea is that if we can bring attention to listen then your contribution is at least as great as mine.”