The Necks
City Recital Hall
Thu 26 Feb '26
Overview
Few acts have shaped Australia's improvised music landscape quite as singularly as The Necks. For nearly four decades, Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums), and Lloyd Swanton (bass) have conjured a musical language all on their own — part minimalist, part jazz, part ambient, yet entirely beyond categorisation.
Their performances are legendary. Each show consists of a single extended piece, entirely improvised, unfolding with patient…
Few acts have shaped Australia's improvised music landscape quite as singularly as The Necks. For nearly four decades, Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums), and Lloyd Swanton (bass) have conjured a musical language all on their own — part minimalist, part jazz, part ambient, yet entirely beyond categorisation.
Their performances are legendary. Each show consists of a single extended piece, entirely improvised, unfolding with patient intensity and microscopic focus. At times underpinned by a deep, hypnotic groove, their music evolves in real time, mesmerising, unpredictable, and profoundly transportive.
The Necks have toured extensively across the globe, built a devoted international following, and released 20 studio albums. Their latest release Disquiet, a sprawling triple-disc set, pushes their exploratory sound even further — four extended pieces that stretch across three hours, from the layered polyrhythms of 'Ghost Net' to the textural meditations of 'Warm Running Sunlight'.
Over the years, they've collaborated with the likes of Brian Eno, Underworld, and Swans, composed film scores, and received numerous accolades, including the 2019 Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music.
Whether you're a longtime fan or experiencing them for the first time, witnessing The Necks live is a rare opportunity to hear music being made at the edge of intuition and form.