austraLYSIS
austraLYSIS works across acoustic free improvisation and live computer interaction, pitting saxophones, piano and percussion against electronics in music that holds tension, risks emotion and never settles into one style.
United by pianist and composer Roger Dean, the ensemble shifts shape. With Sandy Evans on saxophones and Tony Buck on percussion it is an acoustic unit that can lean into jazz propulsion or drift into long, inward exchanges that never drop the tension between the players. As the Electroband, Dean and Greg White fold live computer processes around Evans and sometimes the spoken text of Hazel Smith: hour-long free improvisations, Fibonacci seeds, piano that turns into stone, drum-and-bass and noise layered into large evolving structures. Players move off alone without breaking the drama of the group. The music asks for close listening and rewards it.
austraLYSIS is featured on the following titles
History Goes Everywhere
austraLYSIS Electroband occupies a special place in Australian music. Formed in 1990 by Roger Dean, this trio has carved out a unique territory, pitting acoustic instruments against computer-generated material in live performance.
Sonic Stones
Sonic Stones presents two sides of austraLYSIS’s computer-mediated practice. PianoStones is a fully composed digital work that transforms natural stone sounds and pre-recorded piano by Dean into a continuous sonic field.
Acouslytic
Acousmatic and electroacoustic works from Roger Dean and Hazel Smith with austraLYSIS. Dean's music and Smith's words form a distinctive soundworld that challenges, inspires and intrigues.
Present Tense
An unusual release of music improvised live with computer-generated improvisations. Sandy Evans is astonishing here. Roger Dean has provided most of the germinal material.
The Next Room
An unusual two-CD set of free improvisation: each disc holds one continuous hour-long piece. Tony Buck, Roger Dean and Sandy Evans are sharply different musical personalities, yet the long-form dialogues hold together.
Windows in Time
austraLYSIS is the brainchild of Roger Dean, and exists in several incarnations, including a live electronics band. Here they are in their standard chamber music format and have chosen a programme in which the linchpins are Xenakis and the music of New Zealand composer Lyell Cresswell.
Moving the Landscapes
austraLYSIS appears in Australia in several guises, united by pianist, bassist and composer Roger Dean. All involve improvisation; this recording presents the acoustic face of the group.
Composer
Members of austraLYSIS
Roger Dean
Roger Dean's piano and computer improvisations move from lucid jazz homage to dense electroacoustic layering, often with austraLYSIS. Sensitive touch meets algorithmic process, blue notes and dance rhythms surviving inside radical sound design.
Sandy Evans
Sandy Evans brings soprano and tenor saxophone into free improvisation, contemporary jazz and intercultural writing where koto, tabla and electronics sit beside the horn. Her lines can turn flute-like, almost vocal, or push hard against the group.
Tony Buck
Tony Buck's percussion, samples and voice push free improvisation into continuous exploration: styles and sonorities stretch and return while the ensemble never releases its grip on tension.
Greg White
Greg White shapes music through live computer interaction, sound manipulation and programming, often in dialogue with improvising instrumentalists. His work moves between composed electronic pieces and long-form interactive soundscapes.