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.


  Pan (Kim / Benes / Haag / Alsadi / Saremi) 
  I Had a Dream
  (Creative Sources) 


  
   review by Nick Ostrum
  2021-06-01
Pan (Kim / Benes / Haag / Alsadi / Saremi): I Had a Dream (Creative Sources)

Pan is a curious project. It is an international group who, per their own testimony, combine "unusual instruments with unusual playing methods." The instrumentation is, indeed, unconventional, though it seems in line with a new wave of musicians integrating non-western instruments and stylings into the free jazz/improvisational settings. Pan sports not only the typical tenor saxophone and electric and acoustic guitars (albeit often occupying atypical spaces) and, but also the qanun (an Arabic form of zither) and the kamanchech (a traditional Iranian bowed lyre not unlike an erhu). The formidable Jung-Jae Kim takes on the tenor and skillfully deploys a range of fat deconstructions characterized by breathy heaves, clucks, and, at points, fits of fire breathing. It sometimes happens upon melodies, but rarely do these direct the musical flow and rarely do they last more than a minute or two without being resorbed by the maelstrom that Vít Beneš and Joel Haag generate with their electric and acoustic guitars. For their part, Beneš and Haag evoke the Bailey, Chadbourne, and Russell schools of warped, amelodic guitar-work. Alone, these three create a gurgling sonic stew well worth the listen.

More distinctive to this recording, however, are the work of Shafeeq Alsadi on qanun and Farshad Saremi on kamancheh. In certain pieces, Alsadi and Saremi's work blend seamlessly into the wreathing morass. On others, and usually for extended passages of reprieve, the duo forces open space for their instruments to really soar in timbres and patterns that were somewhat unfamiliar to my ears. In turn, they take the music into somatic territory that transcends and stretches the moment. I am not sure whether the qanun and kamanchech are played idiomatically or if Alsadi and Saremi are breaking boundaries. That said, the result is something that is difficult to place. Persian classical influences pop in and out of perception, and the melismatic vocals on Radio 'Nostalgia' add to the non-European direction of the music. At the same time much of this, including Kim's saxophone torsions and wonderfully understated heavy atmospherics, sounds familiarly avant-garde.

Especially in a world where there is just so much music, and so much experimental music, it is sometimes a challenge to determine whether "unusual instruments" and "alternative techniques" are done for sheer novelty, or in the pursuit of uncovering new sonic combinations and musical terrain. On I Had a Dream, the novelty is there, but the result is clearly more than a gimmick. The compositions cohere, however abstract and open they might have been. And, although Pan makes no effort to hide the unusual elements of the group, they balance this with extended passages of tempered turbulence and dreamy dissonance. They embrace the eccentricities of their sound while grounding the broader project firmly in an avant-garde aesthetic, which, apparently, is becoming quite global.







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:


Derek Bailey/
John Stevens:
The Duke of
Wellington
(Confront)



Paul Dunmall:
Away With
Troubles And Anxieties!
(Discus)



Shifa (
Musson/
Thomas/
Sanders):
Ecliptic
(Discus)



Natsuki Tamura/
Satoko Fujii:
Ki
(Libra)



Borah Bergman/
Anthony Braxton/
Peter Brotzmann:
Eight By Three
(Mixtery)



Hedvig Mollestad Trio:
Bees In
The Bonnet
(Rune Grammofon)



Acid Mothers Temple &
The Melting Paraiso
UFO:
Black Mountain
ide
(Rolling Heads)



Evan Parker/
Bill Nace:
Branches (
Live at Cafe OTO)[VINYL]
(Open Mouth)



Alexander Hawkins/
Taylor Ho Bynum:
A Near Permanent State
Of Wonder
(RogueArt)



Joseph Holbrooke (
w/ Derek Bailey/
Gavin Bryars/
Tony Oxley):
Last Live 2001 -
In Memoriam
Derek Bailey
And
Tony Oxley
[2 CDs]
(Tzadik)



Zeena Parkins:
Modesty Of
The Magic Thing
(Tzadik)



Dave Douglas (
Douglas/
Ridout/
Adewumi/
Brennan/
Pass/
Royston):
Alloy
(Greenleaf Music)



Ivo Pereleman/
Nate Wooley/
Matt Moran/
Mark Helias/
Tom Rainey:
A Modicum
Of the Blues
(Fundacja Sluchaj!)



Angles 11:
Tell Them
It's The Sound Of Freedom
(Fundacja Sluchaj!)



Sifter (
w/ Lisa Mezzacappa):
Flake/
Fracture
(Queen Bee Records)



Jean-Marc Foussat:
Abbatage
(Fou Records)



Chester Hawkins:
Apsis
(Intangible Arts)



Karl Evangelista's Apura +
Andrew Cyrille:
Bukas
(577 Records)



Frode Gjerstad/
Alexander von Schlippenbach/
Dag Magnus Narvesen:
Seven Tracks
(Relative Pitch)



Kaze (
Fujii/
Tamura/
Orins/
Pruvost) with/ Koichi Makigami:
Shishiodoshi
(Circum-Libra)







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. (10303)