WENDRA HILL - For / JOHN HARRIES - Grey Sea Over A Cold Sky
Lumen Lake Recordings
Wendra Hill recorded 2017 in Oslo
Grey Sea Over a Cold Sky recorded in New Cross, South East London.
‘Tea, Coffee, Pepper’ recorded ‘at home by John on his own, with soprano sax overdubbed by his dad (the other John Harries
Wendra Hill - Jenny Berger Myhre: clarinet, cassettetapes, acoustic laptop; Joel Ring: cello, electric bass, effects; Jo David Meyer Lysne: acoustic guitar, 12 string acoustic guitar, prepared guitar, bells, cassette tapes, effects; Tobias Pfeil: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, saxophone, zither; Henriette Eilertsen: flute
Grey Sea Over a Cold Sky - Rosie Bergonzi, Regan Bowering, Heather Britton, Ed Burton, Luke Cartledge, Jamie Coe, J V Harries, J R V Harries, Jon Klaemint Hofgaard, Naomi Jackson, Chloe Owen, Carlos Perea-Milla, Catriona Wilson, Ruthie Woodward).
Tea, Coffee, Pepper - everything by John Harries except soprano sax by the other John Harries.
A previous CD from Jo David Meyer Lysne was reviewed on JazzV iews last year (his duo with bass player Mats Eilertsen, ‘Meander’). In this new group, called Wendra Hill, he is joined by fellow musicians who are interested in the merging of the electric and acoustic, and pre-recorded sounds with improvised music. The unusual band name is in homage to pianist and composer Andrew Hill. From the use of pre-recorded sounds from cassette tapes, this is a hint of Musique concrete experiments (and I was also reminded of German electronic pioneers Cluster). However, Wendra Hill’s use of live playing and the ways in which they combine sounds create a different experience of the making of music which draws the listener into the logic of the world that is being formed. Sounds, whether accidental or purposeful, are worked together, typically in slowly unfolding and gently undulating patterns.
Wendra Hill provide seven tracks on this set, and improvising percussionist and drummer John Harries has two pieces. The first, ‘Grey Sea over a Cold Sky’, involves a collection of cymbal players who are working from a pictorial score, using soft mallets or sticks to create pulses and sheets of sound over which ‘high-pitched instruments’ play short, sharp sounds in the first part and long, sustained notes in the second part, and movement between these parts. The second has a wide range of electronica and percussion, with the sax sounding like a mournful clarinet that weaves between these sounds.
This is an intriguing combination of pieces, and one that gives sight of the ways in which ‘found’ and ‘made’ sounds become indistinguishable in the moulding of contemporary experimental music.
Reviewed Chris Baber
Lumen Lake Recordings
Wendra Hill recorded 2017 in Oslo
Grey Sea Over a Cold Sky recorded in New Cross, South East London.
‘Tea, Coffee, Pepper’ recorded ‘at home by John on his own, with soprano sax overdubbed by his dad (the other John Harries
Wendra Hill - Jenny Berger Myhre: clarinet, cassettetapes, acoustic laptop; Joel Ring: cello, electric bass, effects; Jo David Meyer Lysne: acoustic guitar, 12 string acoustic guitar, prepared guitar, bells, cassette tapes, effects; Tobias Pfeil: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, saxophone, zither; Henriette Eilertsen: flute
Grey Sea Over a Cold Sky - Rosie Bergonzi, Regan Bowering, Heather Britton, Ed Burton, Luke Cartledge, Jamie Coe, J V Harries, J R V Harries, Jon Klaemint Hofgaard, Naomi Jackson, Chloe Owen, Carlos Perea-Milla, Catriona Wilson, Ruthie Woodward).
Tea, Coffee, Pepper - everything by John Harries except soprano sax by the other John Harries.
A previous CD from Jo David Meyer Lysne was reviewed on JazzV iews last year (his duo with bass player Mats Eilertsen, ‘Meander’). In this new group, called Wendra Hill, he is joined by fellow musicians who are interested in the merging of the electric and acoustic, and pre-recorded sounds with improvised music. The unusual band name is in homage to pianist and composer Andrew Hill. From the use of pre-recorded sounds from cassette tapes, this is a hint of Musique concrete experiments (and I was also reminded of German electronic pioneers Cluster). However, Wendra Hill’s use of live playing and the ways in which they combine sounds create a different experience of the making of music which draws the listener into the logic of the world that is being formed. Sounds, whether accidental or purposeful, are worked together, typically in slowly unfolding and gently undulating patterns.
Wendra Hill provide seven tracks on this set, and improvising percussionist and drummer John Harries has two pieces. The first, ‘Grey Sea over a Cold Sky’, involves a collection of cymbal players who are working from a pictorial score, using soft mallets or sticks to create pulses and sheets of sound over which ‘high-pitched instruments’ play short, sharp sounds in the first part and long, sustained notes in the second part, and movement between these parts. The second has a wide range of electronica and percussion, with the sax sounding like a mournful clarinet that weaves between these sounds.
This is an intriguing combination of pieces, and one that gives sight of the ways in which ‘found’ and ‘made’ sounds become indistinguishable in the moulding of contemporary experimental music.
Reviewed Chris Baber
