The Squid's Ear Magazine


Steenberge, Laura : Harmonica Fables (Nueni)

A truly unique album of solo harmonica and voice from Bay Area performer and composer Laura Steenberge, whose studies in folk music, psycholinguistics, acoustics and medieval Byzantine chant brings a sense of the ancient to modern experimentalism, transforming the instrument in a variety of illusive ways that are both enigmatic and entirely embraceable.
 

Price: $14.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Laura Steenberge-harmonica, voice


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Label: Nueni
Catalog ID: nueni #007
Squidco Product Code: 25511

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2018
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded by the artist. Mastered by Ilia Belorukov.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"It goes without saying that there's never enough harmonica in contemporary experimental music, so Steenberge's fine recording has a leg up from the get go. She attended Cal Arts and I'm guessing studied with Michael Pisaro (she appears on his recording, 'Tombstones') and perhaps James Tenney. Not that their influence is marked--it's not--but a vague glimmer of the kind of gentle individualism they teach is apparent on this very unique effort.

There are nine tracks, in three groupings. The first two, 'Ritual for Harmonica' and filezi 'Chant - Harmonica', are the longest pieces at about 12 and 20 minutes respectively and, as their titles might indicate, are the ones with a ritualistic aura. On both, Steenberge hums/sings at the same time as she plays the harmonica, the latter often acting as a kind of drone or pedal point. 'Ritual for Harmonica' uses long tones, burled and complex in their layerings, the vibrato of the voice offset against the subtler vibrato of the harmonica chords. When pitched higher, she almost gets a Lucier-like effect of adjacent tone interference. But the overall cast is one of solitary reflection, thoughts unfurling in strings that are emitted in a quasi-regular manner but vary--intuitively, one feels--in any number of characteristics. (I pick up a glass-like sound as well, as though she's also blowing through, perhaps, a bottle). 'Chant - Harmonica', delves deeper, a series of rich, dark, undulating lines seemingly lasting as long as a breath, the low, buzzing harmonica chord bracing the simple "melody" atop, a sung line (anywhere from 3 to 15 notes) that indeed obliquely recalls the idea of "chant", though from what culture I'd find impossible to say. Her bio references a study if Byzantine chants, but I also find myself thinking along didjeridoo lines. The piece is extremely immersive as well as demanding, developing intensity and intricacy as it progresses--you really have to give yourself up and just wallow in it. Very beautiful.

The trio of pieces bearing the title, 'Sphere' (1, 2 and 3) are quite different, tending toward the high range of the instrument and involving swirling, airy patterns, sometimes reminding me of some of Guy Klucevsek's more abstract explorations (there's some accordion kinship here, I think). Mysterious and enticing, sparkles in an ice cloud. The final four compositions are more songlike in nature, though only vaguely so; maybe the titles nudge one in that direction. On 'The Lady of Shallot', the harmonica takes on a character that sometimes resembles a recorder before splaying out in shimmering, prismatic chords. Thinking of it, maybe it's the title of the following piece, 'Pan and Apollo' that got me thinking of pipes. Here, a rapid cycle of notes alternates between a medium-high, repeating swirl and a much higher, oddly distorting one, eventually overlapping and intermingling--oddly disorienting and quite effective. 'The King's Ears' has a bit of a fanfare quality as well as great sonic depth between both pitches and timbres. It shifts from the initial "announcement" aspect to a kind of chorale, a sung and sighed paean and, finally, to a kind of fast jig. 'Rip Van Winkle' closes thing out sleepily and dreamily, billows of gentle snores, in and out, in and out, yawning and stretching.

A wonderful and unusual recording."-Brian Olewnick, Just Outside


Get additional information at Brian Olewnick's Just Outside

Artist Biographies

"Laura Steenberge is a performer and composer in Los Angeles who researches language, the voice, mythology and acoustics. Influenced by folk music, psycholinguistics, acoustics and medieval Byzantine chant, collectively her work is a study of nonsense and the boundaries of knowledge. A multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and public speaker, Steenberge uses voice, contrabass, viola da gamba, objects, images to create works in traditional and site-specific locations throughout California, including SF MOMA, the Sutro Baths, the Hammer Museum, REDCAT and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She holds BAs in music and linguistics from the University of Southern California, an MFA in composer/performer and integrated media from CalArts, and a DMA in music composition from Stanford University. She teaches experimental sound practices at CalArts."

-Laura Steenberge Website (https://laurasteenbergeportfolio.com/)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Ritual For Harmonica 12:06

2. Chant - Harmonica 20:10

3. Spheres 1 3:15

4. Spheres 2 1:58

5. Spheres 3 2:10

6. The Lady Of Shalott 4:28

7. Pan And Apollo 2:14

8. The King's Ears 4:21

9. Rip Van Winkle 6:23

Related Categories of Interest:


Electro-Acoustic
Woodwinds
Unusual Vocal Forms
Solo Artist Recordings
European Improvisation and Experimental Forms
New in Experimental & Electronic Music

Search for other titles on the label:
Nueni.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Zuckerman, Adam
STARPERMEABLE
(Nueni)
A composition for at least three musicians and processed field recordings from Adam Zuckerman, here configured as a quintet eliciting a poem by Paul Celan, organizing the lines of the poem into multiple movements, exquisitely performed by Kanoa Ichiyanagi (viola), Zaq Kenefick (harmonica), Juan Marroquin (flute), Dylan Marx (guitar) and Kristyna Svihalova (percussion).
Merce, Sergio
Traslasierra (expanded landscape)
(Hitorri)
A beautiful album of expanded landscapes performed on electronically modified Electronic Wind Instrument, field recordings, virtual instruments and synthesizer from Argentinian sound artist Sergio Merce, his characteristically patient pacing and use of space creating dramatic and beautiful sonic environments that hint at warm narratives in a seductive excursion.
Schorken, Hanna
You Told Me How To Dance
(Creative Sources)
Hanna Schorken is a published German writer & poet, jazz vocalist and free improviser, since 2005 living in Koln and developing a personal and idiosyncratic approach to sound poetry and experimental voice recordings, heard here in a 7 part work where each movement completes the titles of the poem "I So Liked Spring"; "You"; "Told"; "Me"; "How"; "To"; "Dance".
Kurka, Irene
Chants
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Soprano vocalist Irene Kurka performs two works works by Antoine Beuger, and one each by Christopher Fox, Eva-Maria Houben, and Thomas Stiegler, accompanied by Antoine Beuger on flute for his composition "Chants de Passage"; 5 beautiful, unhurried works that bring the delicate beauty of each compositions, and of Kurka's refined voice, to a resonant foreground.
de Alvear, Maria / Antoine Beuger
Besando El Tiempo [2 CDs]
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Antoine Beuger performs composer Maria De Alvear's 1995 contemplative work "Besando El Tiempo" (Kissing The Time) written using an automatic script and originally composed for the flautist Caren Levine; after hearing Beuger's interpretation she requested that he record it, the result this rendition that takes the composition on an introspective journey.
Hannesson, Mark
Angels
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Pianist Roger Admiral performs Canadian composer Mark Hannesson's "The Angel's Game", and "Memory Sustained", both minimal works for solo piano, the second using a set of instructions giving the performer advice and discretion over pacing and approach.
Schiller, Christoph
Spinet, 2016
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Christoph Schiller performs on the spinet, often improvising with electronics and objects; here he uses the spinet alone in patiently developing compositions that emphasize the individual tones and harmonics of the instrument played on the keys and inside the instrument.
Lindvall, Johan
Solo / Ensemble [2 CDs]
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Swedish composer and pianist Johan Lindvall in a series of 27 works performed solo or in an ensemble with Vilde Sandve Alnaes (violin), Kristine Tjogersen(clarinet), Jan Martin Gismervik(percussion), Henrik Munkeby Norstebo(trombone), Ina Sagstuen(voice), & Fredrik Rasten(guitar).
Korn, Christoph
Ich Spreche Diesen Text
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Two conceptual compositions from Christoph Korn: the first, "Ich Spreche Diesen" (I appeal to this) where spoken word is placed in a loop and then slowly erased by custom software using aleatory procedures; then "Stille" (Silent), a Cage inspired work.
Merkel, Clemens
Maderna . Beuger . von Schweinitz . Stiegler
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Violinist Clemens Merkel interprets compositions by Wolfgang von Schweinitz's "Sonata for Violine Solo"; Antonie Beuger's "Unwritten Page"; Bruno Madema's "Piece Pour Ivry"; and Thomas Stiegler's cycle "Kammerkomplex" ("quasi una fantasia", "gran partita" and "sonata facile").
Johnson, Tom / Samuel Vriezen
The Chord Catalogue. Within Fourths/Within Fifths
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Pianist Samuel Vriezen performs Tom Johnson's work presenting what Johnson describes as a natural phenomenon within a musical scale: progressions in 1 to 5 voices of all possible combinations of notes with each voice being limited to 3 steps, a perfect 4th or a perfect 5th.
Johnson, Tom
Counting Keys
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
John McAlpine performs composer Tom Johnson's beautiful piano cycle "Counting Keys", using mathematical progressions to create the structure of its 5 movements; plus 8 parts from his "Organ and Silence for Piano"; and two other compositions using mathematical processes.
Eubanks, Bryan
The Bornholmer Suite
(Nueni)
Fifty tracks, one minute and three seconds long each, of open circuit electronics miniatures from sound and noise artists Bryan Eubanks, an unusual suite that challenges the senses and expectations of a suite of sound.
Martel, Pierre-Yves
Continuum
(Tour de Bras)
A solo work from Pierre-Yves Martel performing two works for the viola da gamba, bringing this fretted renaissance-era ancestor to the violin into the 21st century through two slowly evolving and sonically fascinating pieces.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Feldman, Morton (Judith Wegmann)
Triadic Memories [2 CDs]
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
The second of four connected solo piano works by Morton Feldman, Triadic Memories is about that reality, the acoustic space created by the piano's strings and soundboard, as Feldman attempted to expand the temporal frame of his music, heard here in Judith Wegmann's 2019 recording, where thThe second of four connected solo piano works by Morton Feldman, Triadic Memories is about the acoustic space created by the piano's strings and soundboard, as Feldman worked to expand the temporal frame of his music, heard her in Judith Wegmann's 2019 studio recording where that space is revealed by a magnificent Bosendorfer 280VC piano.at space is revealed by a magnificent Bosendorfer 280VC piano.
Frey, Jurg
Fields, Traces, Clouds
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Three compositions from clarinetist and Wandelweiser peer Jurg Frey, performed by Luke Martin on electric guitar, Laura Cetilia on cello, J.P.A. Falzone on piano & vibraphone, Morgan Evans-Weiler on violin, and Jurg Frey himself on clarinet; beautifully reflective music indicating Frey's working method and his relationship with wide, quiet sound spaces.
Houben, Eva-Maria
Ensemble Works [2 CDS]
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Three detailed and fragile compositions from German minimalist composer Eva-Maria Houben reveal themselves over two CDs, performed by the Boston-based experimental music ensemble, Ensemble Ordinary Affects, with Houben herself on organ recording at Memorial Chapel, in Wesleyan University, CT: three movements from "echo fantasy"; "gesang XI"; and "unter anderen".
London Experimental Ensemble
Child Ballads
(Split Rock Records)
Drawn from 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland alongside their American variants, anthologised by Francis James Child during the second half of the nineteenth century, are here sung by Ed Pettersen in the fascinating intersection of traditional lyrics and experimental interpretations of melodies, performed by the 11-piece London Experimental Ensemble.
Kira Kira (Tamura / Spence / Fujii / Takemura)
Bright Force
(Libra)
Since 2007 Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii and Australian keyboardist Alister Spence have collaborated on performance and recording in several configurations, including work with Tony Buck, Raymond McDonald, Jim O'Rourke, &c.; this energetic and otherworldly quartet session with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and drummer Ittetsu Takemura was recored live Knuttel House, in Tokyo, 2017.
Pisaro, Michael
Sometimes
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
The MaDam Electroacoustic Improvisation Collective based in Spain performs the first in Pisaro's 34 piece Harmony Series, which attempts to create the conditions for a harmonic situation without giving any actual notes, just numbers, durations of tones, and pauses; this work is based on "swell piece (for alison knowles)" (1967) by James Tenney.
Jerman / Salis / Sanna
KIO GE
(Confront)
A collaboration between American sound artist Jeph Jerman and Italian percussionists Paolo Sanna and Giacomo Salis, twelve intriguing short improvisations using extended techniques and lowercase approaches that include minimal textures, field recordings, abstract atmospheres and organic sounds.
Nono, Luigi / Jurg Frey
Works For Violin Duos
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Two works from two distinctive composers from different periods--Jurg Frey and Luigi Nono--both for two violins, Frey using the two violins in parallel to emphasize their distinction; Nono using powerful gestures of divergence and contrast in a dream-like duo.
Cage . Pisaro . Frey . Beuger
Accordion Music [2 CDs]
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Four works interpreted for accordion performed by Edwin Alexander Buchhol, including John Cage's "Cheap Imitation"; Michael Pisaro-Liu's "Here (2)"; Jurg Frey's "Sam Lazaro Bros." and Antoine Beuger's "die geschichte des sandkorns".
Davis, Anthony / Paul Plimley / Al Neil / John Kameel Farah
Past Piano Present | Live at Western Front 1985 - 2015 [VINYL LP with DOWNLOAD]
(Western Front New Music)
Four innovative and creative pianists performing solo at the Western Front between 1985 and 2015--Anthony Davis, Paul Plimley, Al Neil, John Kameel Farah--compiled on this extraordinary LP, the 2nd essential archive from one of Canada's most important performance spaces.
Frey, Beuger / Duo Contour
Duos
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
The duo Contour of Stephen Altoff (trumpet) & Lee Forrest Ferguson (percussion) perform Antoine Beuger's "dedekind duos" dedicated to mathematician Julius Wilhelm Richard Dedekind; and Jurg Frey's "22 Sachelchen" or "small things", 22 focused miniature compositions.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC