Olivia Block - Olivia Block [Another Timbe - 2017]Since the late 1990’s this Chicago based musician, electro-acoustic composer, & multimedia artist has been creating a body of often stark & moody work that sits somewhere between modern classical compositions, improv, and edgy sound art. Here’s a recent self-titled CD release on Another Timbe- which offers up a three tracks for piano & organ- and each is extremely skeletally-yet-eerier intriguing in it's use of the inside & outside of both instruments. The release comes in the normal sparse Another Timbe house design of a white mini gatefold, and this features on its front cover a murky & dark picture of what looks like a boat out a sea having problems. And this is perfect for the work with-in, both highlighting the feeling of dark mystery & often angular unease about the tracks here.
The three tracks are simple entitled I-II, and each have runtimes between eight & thirteen minutes- with a total release runtime of spot-on thirty-five minutes. All three tracks are very stark & pared back sonic canvas- and they utilize a mix of drifting note hits & their dark reverb. Eerier piano string pickings, a selection of quiet knocks & fumbling. Silence or near silence, and every once in a while sudden & jarring mass of key bangs, more manic string pics, and barren-to-skittering percussive sounds.
The more musical moments- drift from doomy & descending, to fragile & melancholic, and there is a nice feeling of angular unpredictability to each of tracks unfold. Yet they never sound random or cluttered in their structure, and clearly, each track is both conceived & composed to create both tension, fleeting release, and angular beauty.
It’s really an album for either a very quiet room, or even better still headphones- so you can pick up every little subtle shift or moody micro tone detail in each of the tracks. I see little point in outlining each tracks unfold, as I feel that would very much take away from the experience of both each individual tracks & the album as a whole. But through-out Block keeps ones attention well & truly hooked- with the compositions blend of mood, and an ear for sonic invention & detail.
It must be a few years since I’d last heard any of Ms Block’s work, and I must say I have very much enjoyed this self-titled release- finding it reward in both its atmospheric & creative sound use. It really goes without saying this will only be of interest to those who enjoy sparse & moody modern compositions; but if you do I can well see you very much enjoy what’s on offer here.    Roger Batty
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