JACEK CHMIEL & LARA Süβ - Meandertale
Leo Records CD LR 900
Jacek Chmiel, electronics and objects; Lara Süβ, voice
Recorded in Basel, Switzerland, May/June 2020
The soundscapes created here by Chmiel and Süβ are mesmerising. The music has been described as ‘feeling like the aural equivalent of looking through a microscope — the details you don't hear with the naked ear, suddenly stark and in focus’ – by Fred Frith, multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser and founder member (1968) of avant-garde, prog-rock group Henry Cow. Meandertale is courageous too, as were Henry Cow in their day, eschewing the commercialism of the conventional music industry, allowing them to experiment, and over 10 years enabling them to produce music that would remain confrontational, inspiring and momentous for years to come. I find it invigorating, even today.
Chmiel is guitarist, improviser, musician and sound artist who studied jazz guitar at conservatory level, becoming head of the guitar department in Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory, Nepal. He is currently studying improvisation with Fred Frith at the Music Academy of Basel in Switzerland and is intimately involved with many projects which incorporate experimental and improvised music.
Lara Süß describes her involvement with the arts and music as improviser, performance artist and singer, using art of speaking, body percussion, improvisation, scene setting and singing as her principal tools. In 2021, she was listed as a finalist in the section for Acting and Improvisation in the Rhonefestival – Lied Innovation 2021. The Rhonefestival exists “to promote new artistic approaches that continue to fulfil people's basic right to culture.” She claims to be ‘looking for facets of myself, for artistic-creative possibilities of expression and ideas, for different types of communication’ and she says ‘For me, improvisation is a means of mobilizing creative potential and integrating it into the artistic process. I try it out, revolve around something, question it, discard it and start again. I surrender to the moment and it is this surrender that makes the moment something special because it cannot be repeated. Improvisation has no limits and it is this freedom that enables me to deal with the voice in a relaxed manner.’
Whatever you do, don’t expect to hear tunes, or lyrics in the commonly accepted sense of the word. You may find emotions expressed. You will be hearing sounds, or noise, as this Meandertale is much more akin to that of Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. You may find yourself swept away by the riverrun, into the most baffling, oblique, outrageous and rambling meandertale in anybody’s lexicography.
Enjoy.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Leo Records CD LR 900
Jacek Chmiel, electronics and objects; Lara Süβ, voice
Recorded in Basel, Switzerland, May/June 2020
The soundscapes created here by Chmiel and Süβ are mesmerising. The music has been described as ‘feeling like the aural equivalent of looking through a microscope — the details you don't hear with the naked ear, suddenly stark and in focus’ – by Fred Frith, multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser and founder member (1968) of avant-garde, prog-rock group Henry Cow. Meandertale is courageous too, as were Henry Cow in their day, eschewing the commercialism of the conventional music industry, allowing them to experiment, and over 10 years enabling them to produce music that would remain confrontational, inspiring and momentous for years to come. I find it invigorating, even today.
Chmiel is guitarist, improviser, musician and sound artist who studied jazz guitar at conservatory level, becoming head of the guitar department in Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory, Nepal. He is currently studying improvisation with Fred Frith at the Music Academy of Basel in Switzerland and is intimately involved with many projects which incorporate experimental and improvised music.
Lara Süß describes her involvement with the arts and music as improviser, performance artist and singer, using art of speaking, body percussion, improvisation, scene setting and singing as her principal tools. In 2021, she was listed as a finalist in the section for Acting and Improvisation in the Rhonefestival – Lied Innovation 2021. The Rhonefestival exists “to promote new artistic approaches that continue to fulfil people's basic right to culture.” She claims to be ‘looking for facets of myself, for artistic-creative possibilities of expression and ideas, for different types of communication’ and she says ‘For me, improvisation is a means of mobilizing creative potential and integrating it into the artistic process. I try it out, revolve around something, question it, discard it and start again. I surrender to the moment and it is this surrender that makes the moment something special because it cannot be repeated. Improvisation has no limits and it is this freedom that enables me to deal with the voice in a relaxed manner.’
Whatever you do, don’t expect to hear tunes, or lyrics in the commonly accepted sense of the word. You may find emotions expressed. You will be hearing sounds, or noise, as this Meandertale is much more akin to that of Joyce’s Finnegans Wake. You may find yourself swept away by the riverrun, into the most baffling, oblique, outrageous and rambling meandertale in anybody’s lexicography.
Enjoy.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
