Commissioned by choreographer Jennifer Monson, the collaboration of Downtown NY electric harpist and sound artist Zeena Parkins and Chicago sound artist Jeff Kolar explore the intersection of acoustic phenonema against electronic, synthetic & radio sounds, inspired by the timing of natural phenomena like ocean currents and daylight emergence; fascinating.
Label: Two Rooms Records Catalog ID: TR005CD Squidco Product Code: 29559
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2020 Country: USA Packaging: Digipack Parkins recorded at Office Studio, Mills College, in Oakland, California, by Norman Teale.
Kolar recorded in Chicago, Illinois.
Personnel:
Zeena Parkins-acoustic harp, electric harp, forks tuned metal, electronics, field recordings
"Scale, addresses issues of observation, embodied transferences, telepathy and duration employing swipes, knocks, resonators and hypnotic patternings on the acoustic harp with the less controllable sounds of radio waves, homemade synths and feedback.
Inspired by the timings and sensations of natural phenomena including daylight's slow emergence at dawn and the pulsing ambiance of ocean currents. Nature as both utopic and disruptive. Attention is situated in an often luscious, contemplative sonic environment that shifts at varying rates from the imperceptible to sudden unexpected bursts.
Co-authored by Parkins and Kolar, this piece was originally commissioned by choreographer Jennifer Monson for her work bend the even and performed live at the famed Chocolate Factory Theater in Queens, NY.
Born in Detroit and based in New York, electro-acoustic composer/improviser Zeena Parkins is a pioneer of contemporary harp practices. Using expanded techniques, object preparations and electronic processing, she has re-defined the instrument's capacities. As a composer, Parkins utilizes recombination, historic proximities, geography, tactility, spatial configurations and movement as the material of her work.
Jeff Kolar is an sound artist, radio producer and curator working in Chicago. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of Radius, an experimental radio broadcast platform established in 2009. His work, described as "speaker-shredding" (Half Letter Press), "wonderfully strange" (John Corbett) and "characteristically curious" (Marc Weidenbaum), activates sound in temporary and ephemeral ways using appropriation and remix as a critical practice. His solo and collaborative projects, installations and public performances often investigate the mundane sonic nuances of everyday electronic devices."-Two Rooms
"The new Scale is billed to composer and improvising harpist Zeena Parkins and Chicago sound artist and radio producer Jeff Kolar, but its story involves a larger group of collaborators. In 2017, University of Illinois professor Jennifer Monson (whoÕs also a choreographer and dancer) commissioned Parkins and Kolar to work with her, dancer Mauriah Kraker, and lighting designer Elliott Cennetoglu on a dance work titled Bend the Even. Initial development took place during predawn outdoor rehearsals in the fields around Urbana, but the group moved their work to Florida beaches after they landed a residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Parkins and KolarÕs compositions for Bend the Even were influenced by the choreography of the two-person dance team as well as the ruggedness of the early-morning rehearsals, especially the wintry sessions in Urbana. ÒItÕs sort of like readjusting your eyes and ears, or like sensory deprivation with a long pause of waiting for something to happen,Ó Kolar told the New York Times. While all the tracks on Scale were initially composed for Bend the Even, the album was recorded and mastered separately from the live performances. The music is a fusion of electronic and electroacoustic elements: on ÒHooking,Ó itÕs hard to tell which sounds come from KolarÕs radio gear and handmade electronic instruments and which Parkins creates by manipulating an amplified harp with a scraping bow or a fork tine. ItÕs easy to imagine audiences at the ensembleÕs Bend the Even performances in New York fixating on Kolar and ParkinsÕs movements and the objects they used to make sound, but when I listen to Scale I find myself thinking the vibrations and other physical phenomena the dancers mightÕve experienced while onstage with the duoÑespecially on ÒPulse,Ó where ParkinsÕs haunting harp melody is bookended by great big thuds of crashing strings that sound like a piano being pushed down a staircase. Kolar and ParkinsÕs individual contributions are a bit more identifiable on ÒTraveling,Ó which features KolarÕs snippets of radio static and wavy feedback playing double dutch between ParkinsÕs strummed harp rhythms. The natural world from which the album draws could also be listed as a collaborator on that track: the second half includes recordings of crickets, which create their own kind of feedback and rhythm."-Salem Collo-Julin, Chicago Reader