The Squid's Ear Magazine


Hymn (Dowding / Hallett / Ross): Silence, Then Birds (Confront)

Mysteriously evolving improvisations from the trio of Chris Dowding on trumpet, Sylvia Hallett on violin, bicycle wheel & saw, and Dave Ross using a self-designed time modulator, in two recordings from St. Paul's Church in Marylebone and one at Camouflage in Norwich, ea-improv that has a natural feeling and beautifully paced development; fascinating.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Chris Dowding-trumpets, electronics

Sylvia Hallett-violin, bicycle wheel, saw, electronics

David Ross-davestation


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Label: Confront
Catalog ID: ccs 96
Squidco Product Code: 27942

Format: CDR
Condition: New
Released: 2019
Country: UK
Packaging: CD in a tin case
Tracks 1 and 3 recorded at St. Paul's Sessions, At St. Paul's Church, in Marylebone, UK on May 5th, 2018.

Track 2 recorded at Camouflage, At Anteros, in Norwich, UK, on July 4th, 2018.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Three discreetly unfolding improvisations, courtesy of Chris Dowding on trumpet, Sylvia Hallett on violin, bicycle wheel and saw, and Dave Ross on "Davestation". The trio operate electronics as well; in particular, the Davestation is a hardware based control voltage time modulator (I've learned this from the liners to another album involving Ross, an ingenious manufacturer of unusual instruments from poor materials).

The music oscillates between an asymmetrical adagio and a somewhat subaquatic variety of Jon Hassell-ish hallucinatory soundscape, echoing fragments of melody acting as guide lights through a floating quasi-stasis. The original timbres are sparsely perceived, the ears comfortably adjusting to their persistent transfiguration. The task is made easier by a generally unhurried pace; the actual notes played (make that the sheer gestures required to produce a tone, or a mere noise) are rather few. A slight exception might be the beginning of the second track "Camouflage, Last Peace": one pictures the musicians throwing all the raw ingredients at once in a shape-twisting mechanism, then relaxing to watch the outcome while adding more snippets and shards as the minutes elapse.

At any rate, metamorphic processing and looping represent the virtual spine of this strange yet captivating sonic organism. It doesn't take long to get seduced: in a rare instance, the record works fine both in "intense listening" mode and as an active complement for silent reflection. However, don't you dare labeling it as "ambient": the room's furniture may not welcome those throbs, bubbles and protrusions from some obscure micro-galaxy. But you will."-Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes


Get additional information at Touching Extremes

Artist Biographies

"Chris Dowding is a trumpeter and workshop leader currently based in Norwich.

He plays with the bands Natural Causes and Rude 2.0 (with the trombonist Annie Whitehead), and leads the Moonrise Trio.

He has led workshops with Dartington (several times - including twice as band-in-residence, with Natural Causes, at their Interrogate! Festival), with Spitalfields Music, and at End of the Road Festival. He has recently been working with the Norwich-based charity Musical Keys on several different projects, including making graphic scores, improvising with apps, and writing songs about Norfolk.

He performed on flugelhorn for Opera North's 'Songs at a Years End' production (about the end of the miners strike, composed by Hugh Nankivell, with words by poet Ian McMillan) and performs regularly at the Vortex Jazz Club and other venues in London, Norwich and around the UK.

In 2018, Chris was commissioned by Durham Brass Festival to compose and perform a piece for solo brass instrument with looping app on mobile phone, which led to the piece 'you can hear me'. He has also recently recorded for the new album by eclectic and topical brother and sister duo Diego Brown and the Good Fairy, which led to arranging these horn parts for a four-piece horn section with Annie Whitehead, Steve Pretty (from Hackney Colliery Band) and Ben Higham (leader of The Brass Monkeys)."

-Chris Dowding Website (https://www.chris-dowding.co.uk/biography/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Sylvia Hallett studied music at Dartington, and then spent two years studying composition with Max Deutsch in Paris. She now works as both composer and improviser.

She has played in many international festivals since the late 1970s, having worked with several well-known and respected musicians, including David Toop, Alasdair Roberts, Evan Parker, Anna Homler, the late Lol Coxhill, Maggie Nicols, Phil Minton. Groups include Accordions Go Crazy, LaXula, British Summer Time Ends, Arc,The London Improvisers Orchestra, The London Hardingfelelag and The Heliocentrics. She also performs solo, (eg. in Vigne Museum, Rosazzo, Italy 2015), and in duo with Clive Bell, with Mike Adcock, with Anna Homler and with Chris Dowding.

Projects with various theatre and dance companies include collaborations with the dancer/choreographers h2dance (Hanna Gillgren and Heidi Rustgaard), Miranda Tufnell, Emilyn Claid, Jacky Lansley, Lost Dog, and Eva Karczag, the live art puppeteer Nenagh Watson, and Suffolk-based Wonderful Beast. She has performed and musically directed the music of Adrian Lee in world tours with the Young Vic's highly acclaimed "Grimm Tales", and The Royal Shakespeare Company's productions of "Comedy of Errors" , "Tales from Ovid" and "Canterbury Tales".

Sylvia has released three solo CDs, two on the MASH label, which contain songs, improvisations, and tape collage pieces derived from her compositions for theatre and dance. Her 3rd solo release, White Fog on the EMANEM label features the bowed bicycle wheel. She has also recorded numerous albums with groups and duos.

Commissions for 22 BBC Radio Drama include Tess of the D'Urbevilles, Kings, and Virginia Woolf's Kew Gardens."

-Sylvia Hallett Website (http://www.sylviahallett.co.uk/biography.htm?LMCL=vZSJds)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"David Ross was born in 1967 in East London and lived and worked there until moving to rural Norfolk in 2016. He is a restless and eccentric artist who touches every instrument with his own unpredictable and disorientating sound. David is a maker of bizarre electronics such as The Davestation, The Drosscilator, and is reportedly the only musician to have composed an album entirely using an analogue synthesizer built into a kettle. Alongside these devises, he also plays more conventional instruments such as Jew's Harp, Drums, Kalimba and Kantele. He drummed in the 90s cult band Kenny Process Team and is currently a member of Twinkle3."

-Cafe OTO (https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/artists/david-ross/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Camouflage, Last Peace 14:19

2. Ourselves, Our Bodies 10:27

3. Silence, Then Birds 24:06

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Trio Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Miva Delete Product Category

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