Different Rooms＜Battiato Brick Vinyl＞

オーガナイザー、グラフィック・デザイナーとしても知られるL.A.シンセサイザー奏者JEREMIAH CHIUと、同地ヴァイオリニストMARTA SOFIA HONERのデュオが、2022年以来となるニューアルバム『DIFFERENT ROOMS』をリリース。

2024年後半から2025年頭にかけて、デュオが作曲、エディット、コラージュした楽曲、モチーフをまとめたコレクション。(2023年にJEFF PARKERとJOSH JOHNSONと行った即興演奏から採録したライヴ・パフォーマンスを除く)アンビエント、ニューエイジ、ジャズ、フリー・インプロヴィゼーション、クラシック、現代音楽と多様な音楽的要素をフィールド・レコーディングやモジュラーシンセ、ヴィオラを用いて構築した絵画的な色彩と質感を感じさせる繊細で鮮やかなエクスペリメンタル・ミュージックは本作でも健在。前述のとおり、トータスでもお馴染みの人気ギタリスト、JEFF PARKER、そしてL.A.サックス/キーボード奏者JOSH JOHNSONとのパフォーマンスも要チェックです。

After releasing a collaboration with new age pioneer Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer recorded the material that ended up forming the bulk of Different Rooms. The duos music is a mixture of live improvisation, studio experimentation, and field recordings, often created during the editing process. Different Rooms includes sounds captured from within cities as well as home environments, and its meant to have a more direct, present feel, rather than the otherworldliness of their first album together, Recordings from the Aland Islands. The pieces generally blend Chius warm, alert synth pulsations and ambient textures with Honers multi-tracked viola playing, which sometimes glides smoothly, as on the shimmering "Long and Short Delays," and other times takes more of a central, melodic role, as it does on the more complex "Speaking in Parallel." Two tracks incorporate elements of previous live collaborations recorded in 2023. "Side by Side" is built around Jeff Parkers ascending guitar figures, while Josh Johnsons gentle saxophone notes are woven throughout "Different Rooms," one of a few selections featuring nearly subliminal vocalizations by Giovanna Jacques. "One of Eight" submerges chanting and bells recorded at a Taiwanese temple under trickling, pulsing synths. Two tracks near the end are meant as reflections of pieces from earlier in the album, with "Side by Side (reflected)" electronically re-creating Parkers ascending guitar sequences, and "Mean Solar Time (reflected)" resembling a more lullaby-like variation on the opening composition. Different Rooms is a nebulous haze of semi-familiar melodies and half-heard voices, forming an abstract dreamscape. ~ Paul Simpson