Lea Bertucci is many things – composer, saxophonist, bass clarinettist, electronicist, and performer of unique site-specific pieces. She’s probably best known as a leading light in downtown New York’s noise scene, making discordant, drone-based music that explores unusual textures and timbres. Part of her aim, she says, is to reimagine classical music from a noise musician’s perspective: using orthodox instruments to create textures that sound eerie and discomfiting by applying electronic processing and extended techniques (overblowing, unorthodox fingering, distortion) Of Shadow and Substance is the best example of this approach: the Italian string outfit Quartetto Maurice create unearthly sounds using cellos, double basses, harps and percussion, with Bertucci providing spatial mixing and adding digital effects.
There are two extended songs – the first is a 19-minute piece called Vapours, in which restless strings create a scratching and groaning sound reminiscent of a rusty car door. The strings also play a perfect fifth, with dense clusters of notes that gradually become clearer as the song progresses. The title track, which lasts 21 minutes, is more unsettling. The double basses play with great intensity, while the cellos produce shivery tremolo effects that resemble the sound of a helicopter taking off. In the background, cymbals crash with great force. This cannot be classified as jazz, but it seems to ebb and flow in a way that is reminiscent of an exhilarating, Pharoah Sanders-style performance.
In the notes accompanying the album, Bertucci expresses that this piece does not reflect her personal style. She explains, “It offers a brief insight into the human experience in what feels like the final days of the Anthropocene.” In this way, it can be seen as a companion to Bertucci’s previous album, Chthonic, which was released six months prior. Chthonic was a collaboration with Australian musician Lawrence English, recorded remotely during lockdown and focused on the Earth’s geology. While Chthonic used electronic sounds and recordings of nature to evoke earthquakes, volcanoes, and shifting tectonic plates, Of Shadow and Substance achieves a similar effect using acoustic instruments. It is a gradually unfolding piece that invites us to consider time in terms of geological rather than human measures – the ethereal and otherworldly sounds that may continue long after humanity’s existence has ended.
This month, there are also new releases.
Swiss duo Musique Infinie, consisting of composer and sound artist Noémi Büchi and sound designer Feldermelder, have released their latest album I (Kudos Records). The album is a pulsating blend of drone-based electronica with a touch of implied aggression. Thomas Bartlett, also known as Doveman, is a member of The Gloaming and has collaborated with artists like Sufjan Stevens, Norah Jones, St Vincent, and Florence Welch. His solo album Standards Vol 1 (BMG) features stripped-back versions of standards and showtunes played on a clunky upright piano, reminiscent of Keith Jarrett’s delicate The Melody at Night With You. Jazz saxophonist and academic from New Zealand, Dave Wilson, explores new territory with his latest album Ephemeral (Thelonious Records). Using a string section and a piano/bass/drums trio, he creates haunting and spiritually intense music inspired by the sounds of nature.
Source: theguardian.com
