Editions Mego
Eyvind Kang : Visible Breath (IS/US,2011)***'
Eyvind Kang caught the attention by cooperating with groups and musicians like Sun City Girls, Bill Frisell Quartet, Secret Chiefs III, Blonde Redhead, Robin Holcomb, Laurie Anderson, Mike Patton, John Zorn, Sunn 0))), Marc Ribot, Beck and songwriter Laura Veirs. He said he had two mentors : Michael White (Sun Ra Arkestra & Pharoah Sanders) and Maestro Dr. N Rajam. It was with Secret Chiefs III where he caught my attention well. So it was about time I could check out some solo album. This latest LP probably shows some of his working area. The music is sparse in expression, like a sort of different sort of minimalism based partly upon a combination of intonations and reflections of challenging differences in distortion. This can be like two layers of overlapping notes/tones, from swelling horns with peeping bowed strings, from slowly picking amplified strings, or also resonating strings mixed with electrified bowed cello/violin strings. Although this has something of seeking harmonies into the basic series of fundamental tones there’s always some disturbing combinations used in them, in the tonal and string qualities. And also, a few more distorted, noisier and deeper from the gut of sound expressions are added too. This is entirely different to what for instance Giacinto Scelsi was achieving in a comparable area of intonation. At least I can say about this release from Eyvind Kang is that something is deliberately not right for that kind of approach; for this area it is perhaps closer to a different vision of what is tonal reality as well, for it touches the inclusions of surfaces of air, ice and earth interfering with it, or it is part of a neglect or imperfection I can’t confirm at all if this is better than what is more transcending and abstract, thanks to a bigger totality of perfection (of real classical music). It is strange, and from the visions of sound investigations alone it could have been more intriguing when it would have dealt with that, as an aspect of transcendent nature, just a little bit more. But tonal investigation is only a small part of the work. When following the compositional evolution, dealing with the already mentioned sound aspects then we recall that this is interesting to follow its evolution, it is part of the plan even more than a tonal investigation. The third track starts with a little different kind of starting points of elements. Perfect for an LP format there is a distinction of two sides and two starting points. This last track starts like a minimal picking dance with droning resonance notes responses, the minimalizes back to the aspects of tonal balances I already described before, and with the inclusion of a few different contradictory cello-based ideas.
