Nomi Epstein — Shades

Shades brings together three around twenty-minute works from Boston-based composer, curator, performer, and deep listening practitioner Nomi Epstein. Each piece has a sourly swooping-to-lightly seared drone quality about them-  as they move between the angularly haunting, eerily discordant, and sombrely brooding.

This CD release appears on the always worthy Another Timbre. Presented in the labels house style minimal mini gatefold- this features a photo of a line of purple/ red coloured trees under a dense grey sky.

The three pieces here date from between 2011 and 2023. We open with the title track- which  is played by the highly respected modern ensemble Apartment House, utilizing two violins, a viola, and a cello.  It’s built around a selection of relatively similar searing & swooping tones and light plucks- these either sourly grate, malevolently simmer, or grimly bow ‘n’ drift.

The second work is entitled “Sounds”, and is played by an ensemble of musicians from Berlin. Taking in a female voice & whistle, a clarinet, a violin, and a whistle/piano.  Here we very unease-yet-drifting sound world of warbling pitches, stretched-out drones ‘n’ scrapes, sudden/ sparse tonal scuttles, stark key darts, and sour simmers. The whole track creates an effective feel of on-edginess/ surprise, and even after several plays, I’m still rewarded by the haunting yet often unexpected flow of the work.

Finally, we have the piece “Sextet” it's the longest track here at just over the twenty-six-minute mark. This sees the return of Apartment House-  with the use of a violin, a viola, a cello, a clarinet, a flute, and a piano. It shifts from grimly plaintive percussive-like tolls, onto shadowy pitch-like slices ‘n’ slips, though to forebodingly wavering sears.
  
As a release Shades very much gently hoovers &  lightly shifts with haunting disquiet and subtle unease. With Epstein’s compositions possessing both atmosphere and an element of surprise/ edge.