The Squid's Ear
Writing about improvised, contemporary, experimental and unusual music,
following the activities of Squidco...
  •  •  •     Join Our Mailing List!



The Squid's Ear




Heard In

Reviews of artist releases:
cd's, books, magazines, &c.


  Ferran Fages 
  Detuning Series For Guitar
  (Edition Wandelweiser) 


  
   review by Massimo Ricci
  2020-05-05
Ferran Fages: Detuning Series For Guitar (Edition Wandelweiser)

Generally speaking, children do not appreciate quietness, doing everything in their power to break it with screams and noises. However, try and put a guitar in a room with a lone child. Nine times out of ten, the puppy's hand will start plucking the strings with increasing energy in utter absorption, making them resonate in the silence. In such moments a future is often traced, depending on the vibrational impact inside that still-developing human being. Just reflections while playing this disc, which comprises five tracks for paired electric guitars. Conceived in 2016, the pieces were revised two years later and performed by the composer with Didier Aschour, both applying slight detuning touches during the act to minimally enhance the quivering essence of adjacent partials. I have frequently aimed caustic remarks towards compositional trends dictating rarefied gestures; in this case � aware of Ferran Fages' seriousness � the hope was to find intellectual honesty and unassuming intelligence. It did happen.

The duo combines the focus of a scrupulous scientist with the quasi-motionless grace of a Butoh dancer. The pitches � rigorously sparse, their trails occasionally conflicting a bit � are caught as brief gleams in the dark, noted mnemonically and psychologically, the decay followed to the very end. The interplay does not create a typical contrapuntal fabric; imagine, if you will, a humanization of bell towers tolling slowly and independently, sporadic reverberant cohesion occurring by chance. In conditions of stillness, the effect is evidently stronger; few things possess a greater healing force than string-generated harmonics. Nonetheless, let's finish this analysis with an amusing story. At one point, from a distant corner of the house a radio started blasting The Who's "Baba O'Riley" while I was in "deep listening" semi-trance. You may not believe it, but after the initial annoyance that mix of entirely divergent nuances became oddly attractive. Quoting Pete Townshend himself, the sea refuses no river.







Comments and Feedback:



More Recent Reviews, Articles, and Interviews @ The Squid's Ear...


The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Samuel Blaser Quartet:
Rosina
(Blaser Music)



Samuel Blaser Quartet:
Rosina
[CASSETTE]
(Blaser Music)



TRAC (
Teddy Ryles/
Alexander Cooper):
Heavy Nano Ream Aria
[2 CDs]
(Bu Lang Tribute Cake)



Tyshawn Sorey (
w/
O'Farrill/
Shim/
Korten/
Allen II/
Victor):
Members... Don't!
[2 CDs]
(Pi Recordings)



Josh Berman Trio:
Everybody Else's Life,
Too
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)



Charles Downs Quartet (
w/
Paz/
Saft/
Morris):
Inner
(ESP Disk)



Satoko Fujii:
Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra
[2 CDs]
(Libra)



Henry Kaiser:
Gateway To Strangeness (
solo guitar)
(Metalanguage)



Michael Marcus Quartet (
Marcus/
Williams/
Rodriguez/
Mednard):
Next Stop Down
(ESP Disk)



Le GGRIL + DDK:
Diffraction
(Tour de Bras/
Circum-Disc)



Jason Kahn/
Phil Durrant/
Mark Wastell/
Caius Williams:
Where The Stars
(Editions)



The Tony Williams
Emergency w/ John McLaughlin/
Larry Young:
Emergency!
(ALAY)



Vienna FLAMMeS (
Koglmann/
Schiske/
Donhauser/
Buhlmann/
Mautner/
Rohrer):
He Said Boler o'
(ALAY)



Ballister
+
Luke Stewart:
Clocking the Wheel
(Aerophonic)



Duke Ellington Orchestra:
From Fargo Live 1940
(ALAY)



Camila Nebbia/
Chris Corsano:
Six or Seven Ways
Towards Becoming Undone
(Relative Pitch)



Hilary Jeffery (
w/ Delius/
Dunmall/
Jeffery/
Poulou):
Green Prism:
Music by
Keith Tippett
(Discus)



Paul Dunmall:
Afraid To Speak
(Discus)



Gerry Hemingway/
Izumi Kimura/
Frank Gratkowski/
Christian Weber:
Live At Bau 4
(ezz-thetics by
Hat Hut Records
Ltd)



Albert Ayler:
Reference: Albert Ayler, Spirits & Spirits Rejoice
[CD + POSTCARD]
(ALAY)







Squidco
Click here to
advertise with
The Squid's Ear






The Squid's Ear pays its writers.
Interested in becoming a reviewer?




The Squid's Ear is the companion magazine to the online music shop Squidco !


  Copyright © Squidco. All rights reserved. Trademarks. (51516)