NUCLEONS - Hunting Waves
Leo Records CD LR 876
Franziska Baumann, voice; Sebastian Rotzier, bass; Emanuel Künzi, drums
Recorded at Gelbes Haus, Luzern
Baumann’s voice here plays an unusual part as it takes on the character of a horn, and that is, I believe, how we should hear it. Hear it so, not merely because words are generally missing from this script, but more so because the voice is used in that way, bending, twisting and whirling, using throat ‘singing’ for example, all as part of her exploration of the development of the voice beyond its usual constraints and tenets.
Extraordinarily, the music reminds me of the sounds of ‘musique concrète’ with which I had some familiarity in the early ‘70s, more specifically with the sounds from the Arts Council vinyl release ‘Konkrete Canticle – Experiments in Disintegrating Language’, although concrete music has depended more on the notion that it is ‘a type of music composition that utilizes recorded sounds as raw material’. Not quite the same thing, though there is some electronic play in ‘Hunting Quarks’.
Thinking on that, I suppose that referrals to Quarks, Spinning and Sub-atomic Whisperings were not unlikely, as Gelbes Haus, Luzern and CERN – Geneva are a mere 230Km apart. Hunting Waves too may be referring to the [observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger has begun a new era in fundamental physics - a new dark sector] – as Baumann herself is a professor in research, focussing on relationships between gesture, movement and sound.
That’s all ‘by the way’, as I am sure you realise, but the album itself almost cries out that very expression, as on listening to it for the third time, its 40 minutes seemed to last for just 15, in spite of its sharp and jagged penetrations. I believe that it is its so very light elegance that creates this effect as though Nucleons were asking ‘Did you really believe we were here?’
Astoundingly good, extended vocal improv.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Leo Records CD LR 876
Franziska Baumann, voice; Sebastian Rotzier, bass; Emanuel Künzi, drums
Recorded at Gelbes Haus, Luzern
Baumann’s voice here plays an unusual part as it takes on the character of a horn, and that is, I believe, how we should hear it. Hear it so, not merely because words are generally missing from this script, but more so because the voice is used in that way, bending, twisting and whirling, using throat ‘singing’ for example, all as part of her exploration of the development of the voice beyond its usual constraints and tenets.
Extraordinarily, the music reminds me of the sounds of ‘musique concrète’ with which I had some familiarity in the early ‘70s, more specifically with the sounds from the Arts Council vinyl release ‘Konkrete Canticle – Experiments in Disintegrating Language’, although concrete music has depended more on the notion that it is ‘a type of music composition that utilizes recorded sounds as raw material’. Not quite the same thing, though there is some electronic play in ‘Hunting Quarks’.
Thinking on that, I suppose that referrals to Quarks, Spinning and Sub-atomic Whisperings were not unlikely, as Gelbes Haus, Luzern and CERN – Geneva are a mere 230Km apart. Hunting Waves too may be referring to the [observation of gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger has begun a new era in fundamental physics - a new dark sector] – as Baumann herself is a professor in research, focussing on relationships between gesture, movement and sound.
That’s all ‘by the way’, as I am sure you realise, but the album itself almost cries out that very expression, as on listening to it for the third time, its 40 minutes seemed to last for just 15, in spite of its sharp and jagged penetrations. I believe that it is its so very light elegance that creates this effect as though Nucleons were asking ‘Did you really believe we were here?’
Astoundingly good, extended vocal improv.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
