| Guitarist Fred Frith lists maniacal laughter as another
instrument on the collaborative session with trumpeter Lesli
Dalaba, pianist Eric Glick Rieman, and violinist Carla
Kihlstedt. Indeed, a sense of animated gaiety countered with
sadness protrudes from many angles. The strings, horn, and
keys all promote references to uncontained frolicking,
remorsefulness, and many other emotions of the heart and mind.
The quartet represents a tight collective responding to the
wide-ranging feelings promoted by each member, ranging from
stark depression to overt jubilation. References to the
otherworldly also play an important role in this eclectic
mirage.
Echo effects, reverberant retorts, and remote tonality
filter through Dalaba’s trumpet calls. She produces short,
succinct lines of crispness, drawing the music into dark
nether regions. Her mystic process seduces the band to join
her. Glick Rieman works circumspectly to emote long, wispy
sound currents of wind, and Kihlstedt makes her violin shriek
with piercing jabs of unpredictability. Frith, in turn, takes
an inspired journey into this strange world of atonal sound.
He uses staccato punches to penetrate deeply into the bowels
of the excitement while bonding with the far cries and
whispers oozing from the association. Overt disruptions emerge
at unexpected times from all musicians, only to be calmed by
gentle breezes of sensitivity.
”Worm Anvils,” one of three extended jaunts taken by the
band, distinguishes itself with its longer, flowing lines. The
piece has hypnotic qualities, spinning ’round and ’round in
dervish fashion to draw one deeper and deeper into the eddies
of the unknown. “Lucy Has a New Pet Kitty” fills the air with
purring trumpet whimpers from Dalaba, while Frith and
Kihlstedt surround the playfulness with aggressive attacks on
the strings. The music continually spirals into a vortex of
eerie sensations. Glick Rieman makes his piano speak in
strange electronic tongues. His approach often emulates
spatial traveling into far-off galaxies.
The quartet submerges into dreamland on the lengthy closing
number, only to abruptly awaken in a sonic maelstrom. Rivers
rush in rapid search for the sea as the quartet opens its
floodgates to allow these waters to seek new levels of
emotion. A sense of connectivity dominates. The recording is
synergistic – independent musicians reacting spontaneously to
the stimuli at hand. It results in music with serrated edges,
certain to challenge seekers of life’s more mysterious
elements.
Visit http://www.accretions.com/.
~ Frank
Rubolino
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Track Listing: How Light, a Potato Chip (2:17) / The
Distance That Separates Dreams (2:44) / Spicule Maneuver
(4:07) / Worm Anvils (12:59) / Shallow Weather (11:57) / Lucy
Has a New Pet Kitty (5:17) / Ant Farm Morning (16:02).
Personnel: Lesli Dalaba-trumpet; Fred Frith-guitar,
maniacal laughter; Eric Glick Rieman-prepared and extended
Rhodes electric piano; Carla Kihlstedt-violin, electric
violin, Stroh violin. Recorded: (no date given), Oakland, CA.
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