There are so many ways that musicians can currently cooperate, without necessarily having to be physically together in the same studio, room, basement or whatever, and we got a clear example here with ‘Developments,’ the album that is, well, developed by Six Missing & Patrik Berg Almkvisth.
Behind the Six Missing moniker is Austin, Texas-based ambient composer and sound designer TJ Dumser, while Almkvisth is a musician/pianist and actor from Stockholm. To create this seven-part set of ambient movements, Almkvisth kept sending improvised solo piano pieces in their raw form to Dumser. Then, as their PR notes, Six Missing then expanded each one into a fully realised scene, cycling them through tape machines, routing them into modular systems, and weaving them together “with an ear for movement, space, and emotional arc.”
While PR blurbs more often that not tend to exaggerate with their descriptions of recorded music, this one turns out to be quite accurate, as Almkvisth’s bare-naked piano solos are turned into high-quality mood pieces by Dumser’s electronics and tape manipulation, without any of the two elements dominating or overbearing the other, creating a balanced set of mood pieces, fit for practically anything without turning into musical wallpaper at any point.
