Drifts and Surfaces

このプロジェクトは2018年にブルックリンのレッドフック地区でSaxlのバンドがパーカッショントリオのティーグと共有している練習スペースから始まった。アナログ・シンセやデジタルの実験と並行して室内楽的なアンサンブルを使って感情や生き生きとしたディテールを表現している。穏やかながらも少しの緊張感と重厚な雰囲気を感じさせる特別な作品です。

When composer Elori Saxl made her Western Vinyl recording debut in 2021, it was with The Blue of Distance, a hypnotic seven-track set that played with form (and lack thereof) and a combination of chamber instruments, analog synths, and nature recordings. She continues to explore her fascination with the juxtaposition of nature and technology on the follow-up, Drifts and Surfaces. A brief, under-half-hour collection of three commissioned pieces that fit together remarkably seamlessly, it consists of "Drifts I" for experimental percussion quartet Third Coast Percussion, "Drifts II" for the similarly boundary-challenging percussion trio Tigue, and "Surfaces," which was written for the Guggenheim Museum. All three works were inspired by her time on Madeline Island, off the coast of Wisconsin in Lake Superior, and concern the idea of constant movement. The first thing to note is that while instruments including baritone saxophone (by guest Henry Solomon) and glass marimba (by Robby Bowen) make conspicuous appearances, its difficult if not impossible to identify many of the timbres here, as Saxl processed acoustic instruments through various types of digital manipulation, including intentional sound deterioration, and synthesizers are again in play. The resulting soundscape is a gently mesmerizing one starting right from the opening fluttery tonal line and low hum of "Drifts I." Its an elegant, 12-and-a-half-minute piece that sounds submerged beneath tidal water throughout its gradual harmonic and rhythmic shifts. Higher-pitched, more grating sounds, as well as recordings of Lake Superior itself, eventually make appearances before the track closes on quiet, moan-like pulses, as if an aquatic animal were reaching for the shore after a storm. The watery imagery is not merely suggested by the title but intrinsic to the piece. At less than half the run time, the other two tracks were released as singles, but "Drifts I" is an immersive highlight here. "Drifts II" takes a similarly jittery yet muffled approach to texture, and an ambient approach to harmonics, although it takes more dramatic turns with its harmonic progressions, and while seemingly formless, it sounds "faster." When the baritone sax and marimba open "Surface" in unprocessed fashion (if against a backdrop of eddying strings), its as if were coming up for air in the context of the sequencing. To that point, its a short but worthwhile release that benefits from its collective presentation. ~ Marcy Donelson