Olivia Block — Heave To
At the centre of the project is cello player, sonic painter & the projects composer/organiser Olivia Block who’s joined by a cast ten improviser offer up the sounds of trumpet, oboe, Violin, trombone, clarinet, bass trombone, vola, bass clarinet and percussion. As well as some great sea bound field recordings from around the USA coast line. Opening up the album we have which starts with a nice ‘n’ noise almost 3 dimensional field recording of rough sea which slowly gets built on by the instrumental elements . With the violin first making it’s presence with sea gull like sawing, then the cellos bowing ship like tone. Very quirkily Block and her sonic companions blur the line between field recordings & instrumental texture to build a highly compelling & dense sonic picture that almost makes you feel sea sick; going from quite noisy wind ‘n’ wave battering highs to more harmonic and atmospheric dips in tone.
Next is Heave to part two which starts off a little less stormy with some great rich bubbling and lapping tones as if your bobbing near to the water level. As the track progresses and instrumental colour that comes in has more of an ambient and alien tone to it than the more violent first part, but that’s not to say it’s not with out it’s noisy and violent edger’s. Lastly we have Make the land which starts off with leacking and drip like tones which feeling like your beneath deck of a small ship. Slowly but surely the collective build in smaller percussive, clunking, drone, instrumental and even weird electronic elements as the track goes on. But again it’s all done in a more subtle and less noisy/ stormy way than the first track.
A very original, creative and wonderfully relished concept and album that really does make you feel like you’re a drift on a sometimes violent, sometimes beautiful & haunted but always enchanting sea.