Mind & Machine, Volume Four
Ravello, 2022
9/10
Listen to Mind & Machine, Volume Four
This 4th installment in the Mind & Machine series welcome electro-acoustic composers who embrace no lack of avant-garde sounds, sound samples, and plenty of atypical songwriting on this fascinating affair.
“Water Birds”, by Mara Helmuth and Andrea Vos-Rochefort, opens the listen with Vos-Rochefort’s unpredictable clarinet and Helmuth’s mysterious electronics making for a fascinating organic versus synthetic exploration, and Avik Chari’s “Green Line 2065” continues the creativity with Daniel Yiau's bass clarinet, Michellian Chan’s sax, Don Kow’s trombone, Vincent Tan’s euphorium and Chari’s electronics making for a unique radiance of subdued warmth.
At the halfway point, “Senescence” pairs Chari’s electronics with Ng Pei-Sian’s cello in a climate that’s quite ominous yet inviting and sometimes resembles a dense water like noise, while Gina Biver’s “The Inner Landscape Of A Cabin In The Woods” brings fixed audio and Biver’s improvised electric guitar to a sublime intimacy.
Juro Kim Feliz’s “Hanggang Sa Takipsilim” exits the listen, and it’s a curious mashing of Jayson Palolan’s Phillippine indigenous instruments and Hannah Leah Guanlao’s narration that’s expressive, atypical and blips and bleeps strategically.
Another exciting chapter of this highly distinct series, the 5 composers present make an indelible impression with their inimitable electro-acoustic ideas and flawless execution.
Travels well with: Mind & Machine: Organic And Electronic Works- Volume Three; Bill Whitley- Then Elephant Speaks