Jason Kahn - Fields/Gunter Muller - Reframed

Fields
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Reframed
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Two solo recordings from our Swiss contingent (OK, OK, Kahn’s a US ex-pat, but still), both using processed sounds from original recordings either self-made or taped in the field. Neither exactly kicks you in the gut on first blush, but both insinuate their way into your aural grasp if given extended, concentrated listens.

The first sounds encountered on each are also just a little startling. On “Fields”, that sound is pretty damn close to a train whistle. All aboard. It lingers for a good bit before giving way to a soft, rapid percussive patter and some chewy radio static. Very simple, in a sense, but very solid and satisfying. While the subsequent pieces differ in particulars, there’s something of a like strain running through them, that of taking only three or four elements and laying them alongside one another, shifting the relationships subtly and allowing the listener to perceive the varying resultant patterns. The third track, for instance, combines a low, waffling sound with mid-range soft static (like a radio station fluttering in and out of range) and tiny, high-end crackles and blips. Each of these modulates within their range and when they do, especially as the fluctuations are gradual, new relationships emerge between them. Quietly tapped cymbals are introduced right at the end or perhaps had been there all along and are just then peeking into audibility. It’s concise and self-contained and while the cuts are short enough (about four to nine minutes) to allow one to at least attempt to mentally keep track of some of the pattern activity, I still found that the brief lengths perhaps work a bit against the music in terms of sameness of approach. The air of calm studiousness in effect might, imho, work better over longer periods of time. Almost every track here, I’d have liked to have heard at greater length, especially when one of the elements is, for example, a field recording from what seems to be a large interior space. You get the intimation that there’s so much there and you’ve only just tasted the edges. Still, these are minor nits to pick.

Muller’s “Reframed” also commences with an atypical sound, something very near to a church organ, soon accompanied by a low flutter, statics and other, less reedy hums. The only thing is: all these pieces are the result of his having reprocessed recordings of bowed cymbals. I’ve been less than blown away by recent solo offerings from Muller, far preferring to hear him in the company of others (where he’s generally invaluable), so this release came as a welcome surprise. I think it’s the best solo Muller I’ve heard in a good long while. It’s not that it’s drastically different from previous offerings like “Eight Landscapes” or last year’s “Live and Replayed” on Esquilo, just that he’s made his tweaks, to these ears, in the right direction, accentuating especially juicy areas and structuring the pieces more strongly with none of the meandering that sometimes marred the other efforts. The cymbalic nature of the sound sources is more apparent in the longer (22 minutes) second track, with its intersecting waves of padded-mallet thumping forming matrices of crests and troughs. (I found myself reminded, of all things, of the opening section of the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s “Ohnedaruth” from “Phase One”). It holds up extremely well over its span, no small feat considering the “limited” nature of its elements. The next is probably my favorite, a piece that manages to be engrossingly spacey without being at all vacuous although, qualitatively, I find the pieces to be almost equally strong. Why this one works and countless others mining similar veins don’t is, of course, difficult to say except that I get a sense of commitment, of focused intelligence here that generally goes missing when such areas are explored.

Both “Fields” and “Reframed” are fine, thoughtful recordings. If I think Muller hits his mark more regularly than Kahn this time out, I could easily imagine listeners who’ve previously enjoyed the work of both feeling the reverse. What I’d really like to hear is another duo from them at this level; “Blinks” is a decent enough record, but my mental combine of these two is in a different league altogether.

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