Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Jürg Frey - 120 Pieces Of Sound [Elsewhere Music - 2018]

120 Pieces Of Sound presents us with two thirty-to-forty-minute examples of moodily sparse- to- dread filled & dark modern compositions from Swiss composer and clarinettist Jürg Frey.The release comes in the form of a CD on Elsewhere Music- the up & coming US modern composition/ modern classical label.

First, up on the disc we have a composition from 2009 entitled “60 Pieces Of Sound”-this thirty two minute work brings together Frey on clarinet, Laura Cetilia- Cello, Morgan Evans-Weiler- Violin, J.P.A. Falzone- Keyboard, Luke Martin- Electric guitar. The work is built around the players creating a series of sustained drones that are broken up by drifts of complete silence- the drones are laid out in very slowed & considered two-part melody, which gets slowly revealed over the tracks length. The piece creates an interesting effect in the listeners mind- to begin with, your eager for the silence between the sustains to shorten, and disappear- but as time goes on you seem to slow down to the broken pace of the work- readying oneself for the dips in nothingness, as the sustains are half-way done. It feels akin to seeing a stark landscape picture cut apart out & spread wide on a large wall or surface- your mind first moving from one piece to the next trying to join together the pieces as one flowing picture in ones mind's eye. The sustains start & end with hints at the identity of the tone of each instrument- but really the five instruments are brought together to create a simmering bleak & fairly unified glow.

The second track "L’âme est sans retenue II"- was composed & worked on between 1997 & 2000. This the longer of the two tracks coming in at the forty-minute mark- it’s built around a blend of field recordings & Frey’s Bass clarinet. Here once again silence is used in the composition, but instead of more considered & regular use of the first track, here it’s a lot more random/ at times jarring in its application. Between the lull Frey places blocks of rushing searing- that could be either amped-up air con. Fan sounds or rain recordings, and bass bound Clarinet sustains. The whole composition has a murky & grimy sort of dark black industrial ambient feel to it unfolds, and instead of the bleak broken melody line of the first track we get blocks of seared grimness- that rather brought to mind a more slurred later day Scott Walker take on soundscaping. With carefully repeated listens you start to make out more sustained & pared blocks of sound, and this nicely deepens the overall atmosphere of the whole composition.

120 Pieces Of Sound highlights Mr Frey skill at utilizing silence & blocks of sound- giving the listener two very different perspectives on the balance between the two states of sound & non-sound.  This is the second release I’ve been impressed with this year from Frey, the other been the excellent Early To Late ( on Another Timbre)- which saw him doing a split release with Stockholm based improviser/composer Magnus Granberg. So I’ll certainly be keeping my out eye for new work from Frey, as well as digging into his back catalogue.

Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5Rating: 3 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Jürg Frey - 120 Pieces Of Sound
120 Pieces Of Sound presents us with two thirty-to-forty-minute examples of moodily sparse- to- dread filled & dark modern compositions from Swiss compos...
020623   Kvad - So Old
020623   Re-Flesh - Re-Flesh(DVD)
020623   Alien From The Abyss - Alien ...
020623   Fred Frith & Núria Andorrà - ...
020623   Hardy Fox - Hotel California EP
020623   Jacques Berrocal,David Fenech...
010623   Monoid - Satisfaction Shift
010623   Hallucination Vortex - Synaps...
010623   Contaminazione - Pericolo Di ...
010623   The Beta Test - The Beta Test...
Latest Articles

TenHornedBeast - Into The Deep & ...
Forming in the early 2000’s TenHornedBeast is a British project that creates a rather distinctive blend of black ambience, doom, dark soundtracking ele...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
050523   Bill Morroni - The Trials & ...
280323   Magnus Granberg - Finding Emo...
230223   Trou Aux Rats - The Funeral I...
020223   The Residents & Support - Liv...
300123   Worship - In Praise Of Walled...
201222   Blood Chalice - Into The Sin...
191222   Best Of 2022 - Music, Sound &...
061222   Dr Tom Whittaker - The noto...
231122   Hastings of Malawi - Deliriou...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom