CNV39
release date: 16.Feb.2007

JOHN CLAIR, JED SHAHAR - Avner's Arrival

Bagatellen 12.03.2007

It’s been remarked before that, over the last several years, many practitioners of eai have become rather adept at unspooling good, solid recordings, that the language has settled in comfortably enough for many musicians to create unforced and natural performances. For myself, I’ve found this to be the case more with what you might called the Müller-end of the spectrum, that is, the smoother (I don’t mean this pejoratively), more tilted-toward-ambient area of improvisation. It seems to me to be more difficult to master the language as you get toward the gnarlier side of things—the harsher, less overtly cohesive music that might be found, for instance, in Sachiko M’s contact mic work. You tend to hear a lot of work where the dialogue is stilted; you want to hear it become second nature, like slang.

But perhaps that area is becoming common parlance as well, a good thing. This recording by John Clair (guitar and preparations, piano, contact mic, field recordings) and Jed Shahar (construction materials, tromphone, prepared saxophone, contact mic) with Loren Steele guesting on laptop on the final track, does a pretty fair job in at once convincing the listener as to the grasp and confidence of the musicians in wielding this language, that it’s become a natural vernacular. They do so in disarming fashion on the opening track, a brief improv at a college auditorium which is interrupted by a laid-back security guard questioning their uncredentialed presence after about two minutes of scrabbling about. The lads deferentially explain what they’re doing, the guard is intrigued and lets them stay. It’s a lovely little piece and actually works quite well in its brief entirety, conversation and all. The following cut is a fine, concise study in what sounds like contact mic manipulation, unhurried and calmly conscious. These two pieces serve as intros for the two lengthier tracks that make up the bulk of the release. The first is my favorite of the bunch and the clearest indicator that these fellows know what they’re about. The low level noise absolutely maintains interest and cohesiveness throughout, the variations in material segueing naturally from one sound area to another, the density and sparseness of the overall noise contracting and expanding palpably. As elements such as recordings of PA announcements and exterior environments filter their way into the mix, they sound as pleasantly routine as opening a window. Even at 21 or so minutes, they understand when things should be wrapped up and do so at precisely the right point. Excellent piece.

The last track, the pair augmented to a trio, fares less well. A sense of busyness which had been avoided thus far creeps in here as well as a use of sound sources that come across as too obvious, such as sheets of metal, certain electronics and saxophone. Maybe it’s simply an overcrowding that occurred with the addition of Steele (though I can’t attribute any of the difficulties to sounds apparently originating on the laptop), maybe it’s just a less inspired performance. There’s a feeling of casting about for ideas that was absent earlier, the conversation meandering around aimlessly and eventually petering out. Not that there aren’t several individual events of interest, but the overall structure struck this listener as more haphazard than enjoyable random, if such distinctions can be made.

[ Brian Olewnick ]

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