Currently Active Improvising Duos:
with ALEX WARD (acoustic guitar) since 2000
'Enjoying the instrument's familiar warm, sweet tone or executing rapid, dry
rattles, Ward and Bisset communicate with sustained clarity and purpose,
avoiding tangle. Intricate, graceful shapes arise from their interplay. An
invitation to eavesdrop on a versatile, sharp-witted discussion.' Julian Cowley
in the Wire Magazine
Recording: Crypt 2003
with BURKHARD BEINS (percussion) since 1995
The musicians have toured extensively in Europe and North America, as a duo
and in collaboration with others. Over this time their individual playing styles
have developed in very different ways, resulting in a wide range of projects
from melodic instrumentals to electronic noise. Burkhard became one of the
pioneers of the so-called "Berlin Reductionism", but also a member of
the "post-industrial" group Perlonex and a frequent duo-collaborator
of table-top guitarist Keith Rowe, whilst John explored conceptual approaches
being the leader of the London Electric Guitar Orchestra (LEGO) and
deconstructed song structures with his band Pocket besides working extensively
as an improviser, progressively rejecting extended techniques.
This divergence brings a certain tension to their duo, as they bring their
different material into the arena for sharing - united in a mutual respect and a
concentration of purpose.
Recording: Chapel/Kapell 2001
with Rhodri Davies (harp) since 1997
Acoustic
string music, generated from close listening and swift but considered
interactions. Working within a tightly focused frame the duo explores its full
potential - abrasive and robust gestures giving way to a brittle fragility –
mosaics of delicate tonal relationships being shattered in percussive sweeps.
Rhodri
and John met and began playing together in 1997. They were part of the Butch
Morris’ Conduction Orchestra CMN tour of England in 1997. They
have toured Europe as a duo, and in collaboration with others, especially the
group of
musicians centred around Berlin’s 2:13 Club (Beins, Renkel, Dorner,
Neumann, etc) in various ad hoc groupings and with the 2:13 Ensemble.
Recording: Malthouse 1999