Colin Potter & The Hafler Trio – A pressed on sandwich CD ICR DISTRIBUTION

“I attended The Hafler Trio performance of ‘How to slice a loaf of bread’ in Preston and was very impressed on many different levels. During a discussion with Andrew McKenzie after the event, he suggested that we might try a joint project. Shortly afterwards he sent me some of the original source material from the performance. It was my intention to preserve the overall shape & sense of the material, but at the same time move it to another (sonic)place. I hope I have achieved this, by a process of reformation.”

Review by John Kealy from Brainwashed  ” If the original Hafler Trio performances and releases of How to Slice a Loaf of Bread can be seen as full meals, Colin Potter’s reworking is a compact collection of ideas shoved into one of those toasters that squish the sandwich into a condensed snack. A Pressed On Sandwich doesn’t cover the depth and breadth of the original releases but Potter does augment the material into a worthy piece in its own right.

Nextera

Despite being the work of Colin Potter, this album looks, sounds and reads like The Hafler Trio. A Pressed On Sandwich is instantly recognisable as being cut from the same loaf as the original releases, Potter hasn’t gotten rid of any of the sounds’ identities. He takes an overview of all the sonic landscapes initially conjured up by Andrew McKenzie creating a digest of the source material. Indeed a quote of Potter’s in the press release acknowledges this, stating it was his “intention to preserve the overall shape and sense of the material, but at the same time move it to another (sonic) place.” There is a completely different mood and space captured here and as short as it is (just over 50 minutes compared to the 5 hours plus of How to Slice a Loaf of Bread) it is obvious that there’s more to this sandwich than the two slices of bread on the outside.

Potter has done such a wonderful job on this release, doing justice to McKenzie’s own inimitable work . In addition, until a McKenzie-approved reissue of the How to Slice a Loaf of Bread discs happens, A Pressed On Sandwich is as close as many will get to hear it.