Knest Improvs “Saigon by Motorcycle”

Improvisation is a high-stakes art form: greater risk, greater reward. Boldness and creativity from individuals are paramount, but they come second to the chemistry of the group. When the members of Austin’s Knest first convened three years ago, drummer Thor Harris felt the spark immediately.

“Even our earliest rehearsals seemed like they were good enough to be shows,” recalls the Swans percussionist of his initial practices with Plutonium Farmers/Bop English/Young Mothers guitarist Jonathan Horne and Reverend Glasseye cellist Randall Holt. “It was real easy for us to play together, and what came out were these long, improvised, instrumental pieces that had a cool arc to them.”

Asked to define Knest’s daring, off-the-cuff compositions, Harris is at a loss.

“We don’t have a name for it,” he admits. “It isn’t jazz, because there are no solos in it. In jazz, there’s a head that everybody does and people play a groove while a trumpet or guitar plays a solo. That doesn’t happen in this band. I said, ‘Let’s not play solos, because I find them incredibly boring.’

“I think it has more to do with ambient music or electronic music, except we don’t really use electronics. I really like electronic music and the kind of crap they listen to at raves, and I actually like dubstep too. I think we’re more interested in the hypnotic power of repetition and the trancey sort of thing."

For Harris, whose lengthy local résumé includes tenure in Shearwater and backing Bill Callahan, the experimental explorations of Knest have proved therapeutic.

“I was in a horrible place with depression three-and-a-half years ago, and playing improv music with those guys totally saved me. It brought me through one of the darkest times of my life,” Harris reveals.

“With improv, you really have to be emotionally present. You have to play off of each other and listen to each other and find that place in you where improv comes from. It takes a lot of imagination.”

Thus there were no charts, no songs, and no rules except the aforementioned no soloing when Harris, Horne, and Holt hit the studio earlier this year with Rob Halverson. Together, they cut debut LP Honorary Bachelors of Arts in one day. The album, a collection of post-rock concoctions demonstrating the trio’s telepathic connection and off-the-charts talent, is available digitally on Friday via local label Super Secret Records’ new outsider music imprint, Self Sabotage Records.

“Now that we have a good recording, I think that we may end up basing some of our improvs on this album,” offers Harris. “But they’ll change pretty dramatically from night to night depending on our moods.”

The elusive Knest invades Hotel Vegas on Sunday, headlining an album release show that begins outside at 7pm. Experimental folk musician Ralph White goes on first, followed by various combinations of Harris, Horne, and Holt. Meanwhile, take a spin on Knest’s "Saigon By Motorcycle:"