Pisaro, Michael / Greg Stuart

July Mountain: three versions

Label: Gravity Wave Country: USA

"July Mountain: three versions, contains a re-release of this 21-minute piece for field recordings and percussion (the original .point engraved edition is sold out), along with two additional versions (one with alternate field recordings by a range of artists, and one with the percussion parts alone, which can either be listened to on its own or combined with field recordings of the listener's choice). The work is a translation of Wallace Stevens' poem "July Mountain" into sound. There are 20 field recordings and nearly 100 separate percussion tracks.

Reviewing the initial release, Brian Olewnick wrote in Just Outside, "[It] sounds ... extraordinary, mysterious, life-abundant. Twenty phased field recordings done in mountain or valley areas mix with percussion extracts (performed superbly by Greg Stuart) sourced from specific instrumental orientations covering an enormous range of timbre and pitch, all sequenced in a temporally exact manner. A great, great work, one I can easily see listening to for many years to come."

Jesse Goin in Crow with no Mouth wrote, "July Mountain is a universe in 21 minutes, and from my vantage point, Pisaro is creating some of the most vital and extraordinary music available to us today." "-Gravity Wave