DOLMAN / ROSSY / JOBIN - Are You Here To Help?
Self-release
Aaron Dolman, Drums; Sarah Rossy, voice; Eugénie Jobin, Voice and Vibraphone
Recorded at Studio Dandurand, Montréal, Quebec, Canada: Sept 8-9, 2021
Presented by two voices, drums and, on just three tracks, a vibraphone, Are You Here to Help? is a poignant, sonic terrain which delicately, yet distinctly, defines the trio’s intentions. Though this sonic landscape is intricate, it is achieved mostly without resort to any common-or-garden musical instruments, although the drum kit is an extended version which includes a snare drum and some sounds from the gamelan ensemble. Even the voices travel further than lyrics would allow, preferring to use their potential as instruments in their own right. The overall sound draws from chamber music, folk, jazz and the Avant-garde, though maybe we should include Free-improv and Minimalism as possible resources.
The trio is clearly unique, the austereness of its structure allows it to exploit the animated influences of both voice and drumming as elemental heralds of each of the essentials of music: melody, poetry, rhythm and song. All the music and the lyrics are from drummer Dolman except track 10, an early Joni Mitchell original, The Fiddle and the Drum.
The sound world exploited here is beguilingly intangible, its rudimentary form depending on our most common and elemental tools for communication and expression – drum and voice. Eventually, as we move forward, the drumming becomes more outgoing, while harmony and rhythm promote cordiality and consistency in the soaring resonances engendered.
Each track develops a pure, discrete and creative style of utterance through which the beguiling temperament of Dolman’s writing shows off his singular manipulation of the incorporated silences, the spaces between everything. The sleeve notes tell us that space is what this is about.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Self-release
Aaron Dolman, Drums; Sarah Rossy, voice; Eugénie Jobin, Voice and Vibraphone
Recorded at Studio Dandurand, Montréal, Quebec, Canada: Sept 8-9, 2021
Presented by two voices, drums and, on just three tracks, a vibraphone, Are You Here to Help? is a poignant, sonic terrain which delicately, yet distinctly, defines the trio’s intentions. Though this sonic landscape is intricate, it is achieved mostly without resort to any common-or-garden musical instruments, although the drum kit is an extended version which includes a snare drum and some sounds from the gamelan ensemble. Even the voices travel further than lyrics would allow, preferring to use their potential as instruments in their own right. The overall sound draws from chamber music, folk, jazz and the Avant-garde, though maybe we should include Free-improv and Minimalism as possible resources.
The trio is clearly unique, the austereness of its structure allows it to exploit the animated influences of both voice and drumming as elemental heralds of each of the essentials of music: melody, poetry, rhythm and song. All the music and the lyrics are from drummer Dolman except track 10, an early Joni Mitchell original, The Fiddle and the Drum.
The sound world exploited here is beguilingly intangible, its rudimentary form depending on our most common and elemental tools for communication and expression – drum and voice. Eventually, as we move forward, the drumming becomes more outgoing, while harmony and rhythm promote cordiality and consistency in the soaring resonances engendered.
Each track develops a pure, discrete and creative style of utterance through which the beguiling temperament of Dolman’s writing shows off his singular manipulation of the incorporated silences, the spaces between everything. The sleeve notes tell us that space is what this is about.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
