a r t i s t : Will Guthrie
t i t l e : Body And Limbs Still Look To Light
d a t e : 2006
l a b e l : Cathnor Cath002
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : nov/2006
t r a c k s : 03
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 47,5 MB
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"Will Guthrie's 'body and limbs still look to light' does
indeed have a more luminous character than the listener might
have expected given the rather brutal nature of recent work
such as 'Spear' or his fine collaboration with Ferran Fages,
'cinabri'. The three pieces on this disc are more
contemplative and even airy, less slab-like in nature.
Each piece is also very different from the other in the basic
sound palette employed. 'Taken' contrasts skittering, small
percussive sounds with soft, deep gongs and smatterings of
electronica at its start. It's relatively brief, stays on a
single, gentle track and works quite well as a self-contained
examination of a given area; terseness as a virtue while
hinting at larger spaces. The second track, 'Peak',
concentrates on radio usage and, while it has moments of
sharp, concise, beauty, it also serves to illustrate how
difficult it is to plow this particular field. The line
between the arbitrary and serendipitously revelatory is a
tough one to negotiate and, too often, this teeters into the
first territory, at least to this listener's ears. When, about
midway through the piece, the radio steps aside to act as
companion for some Muller-esque electronics, things gel
enticingly into a slithery, warm plasma. 'Withdrawal', the
longest track here at about 15 minutes, is my favorite work on
the disc. After an initial ultra-quiet section, Guthrie spends
the bulk of the performance contrasting eerily similar pitches
culled from very different sources, overlapping them in
irregular waves. It's a beautiful idea, beautifully realized
as ship horn-like toots, thin sine waves, rough percussive
scrapes, and other tones from who-knows-where that sound oddly
related (some radio too, I think) weave and slide over and
beneath each other. It's like a rug made from varicolored and
differently textured strands of the same thickness. If it
loses a bit of steam 12 or so minutes in, well, it's been a
great ride up until then.
The disc has a something of a searching quality to it, perhaps
surprising after the overt confidence of previous Guthrie
works, but encouraging as well. It's a solid, rigorous,
sometimes probing recording, one that significantly whets
one's appetite for future endeavors." (Brian Olewnick,
Bagatellen)
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01-Taken [06:08]
02-Peak [09:57]
03-Withdrawal [17:20]
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33:25 min