OVERALL:
It's fantastic. A tight, disciplined group that explores the limits of the voice with verve and focus.
1) Precoding. Explorers of the non-verbal and usually non-melodic, that most dangerous of territories - since most people find it hard to take that area seriously. Whether technologically augmented, or "raw", they plunge into worlds of texture and rapidly shifting, unspecifiable, but expressive emotional states. What is finally gone from this work is the anger and negativity of the Futurists. This is sound exploration sounds to me like it comes out of curiousity and awareness, and not only out of a rebellion against bourgeois norms.
2) Seagull's secret. Very evocative. Lines coalesce and separate. Emotional states come and go, changing, intensity, then changing back. Flickerings of emotions....an audio movie for non-verbal vocal sounds.
3) Formula Felix: A very short exercise in musical following. Interesting to hear how things vary from phrase to phrase.
4) Hello Veronica: The sax, like the synth, pushes them into more "musical" areas of exploration. A short piece (like many on this CD) - in which a mood is stated concisely, then it's gone.
5) Mirage. A standard harmonics singing drone. We all did this one/ do this one. Why do voices (including mine) always go FLAT when singing harmonics? Most interesting for me in this one is when radically different rates of harmonic glissandi are used. One moment when there was a very slow glide, a medium rate glide and a fast high glide - almost a tremolo - was delicious.
6) Instructions: A glossolalia piece. Lovely and silly. Short and to the point.
7) Centipede's: A pulse piece. They can keep a pulse and keep it well! Nicely propulsive, and they fit aall sorts of fun gestures onto the grid, even to the extent of trading gestures. A voice in the right channel goes down to a very low pitch. A voice in the left channel picks it up and then ascends! The concept of "solo" is timbrally defined here. Whoever has the most distinct timbre from the others, is heard as a "solo."
8) Dawn ritual: Starts with a slow growth of vocal fry, goes to ululations, and then extended drones, which evolve into Tibetan style growls. The transition moments between the kinds of sounds are the most interesting for me. Sjaak has great growls.
9) 35 blah: Very much fun. 4 phrases of glossolalia exactly 35 pulses long each, with a concluding BLAH! A nice formalism in the midst of the improv. It makes me suspect that there are a number of processes going on in this work, of which this is but the most simple and easily hearable....
10) Pirates: A short non-verbal drama. Like Seagulls secret, it's an evocative and perpetually changing dramatic scene with no need for plot or dialog.
11) Third anguish: Beautiful in the throat vocal fry work by Sjaak. The percussion gives a ritualistic focus that is very special.
12) Rip chord: Part 1) Nice use of reverb for chords. Almost like a Morton Feldman piece, but each chord has a different emotional mood (from the vocal expression of the performers), something that wouldn't happen in Feldman. A beautiful and evocative piece that could go on for a very long time. Part 2) Starts out as a take-off on a Bobby McFerrin type thing, but then continually, hilariously, keeps falling over its feet, and collapses into laughter, followed by many false starts to finish. Besides being funny, it allows us to hear the speaking voices of the group, and hear other aspects of their personalities thru the sound of their speaking voices - also gives an interesting voice into their working process. There are processes going on here - implicitly stated, and unstated rules are being revealed here and are being used to create what we heard. Nice one.
Very nice work. I'm very impressed and enthused.
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