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falling embers (41.52) 23/04/09
Steve Lawson and I finally managed to get together today. After some initial problems with Steve’s looper, we got started, and produced this 45 minute improvisation. I’m very happy with the way it worked out – apart from a few small cuts to tidy things up, this is exactly what we played. I recorded the stereo outs from my main computer, and Steve’s rig, so there’s no real post-mixing, only occasional added effects and a bit of sweetening.
The instrumentation is:
Me on flugelhorn, bowed metal and software, and Steve on bass and Looperlative – a very cool hardware looping device.
It was interesting and inspiring to work in this way. Steve comes from a different performing background to me (though there is overlap), which I think helps create a shifting centre of gravity somewhere between tonality and abstraction. The tonal palette is also expanded in interesting ways, though again there is overlap – it’s not always clear who is creating which part of the soundscape. And of course playing as a duo means that neither of us is “on” all the time, which means that there is more time to let go into the sound and wonder where to take things next.
Why “falling embers”? That’s the feeling I get from the final section, from about 38 minutes in to the end. It seems to me to sit right with the rest of the piece too.
Enjoy!
