A mysterious bass hum slithers into a series of fluttering beeps and
stutters and creaks. Twangy strings, resembling a muted and detuned
sitar, then chimes pierce the background, a long with a choice
selection of swipes, beeps, and tweaked nobs, or tuning keys. Sine
tones, echoed pixilations, a heavy buzz join for a while. It turns
out, this delicious computerized nature walk all comes from two
musicians: Robert Wheeler on EML ElectroComp 101 and Gayle Young on
her own invention, the
amaranth
.
From Grimsby to Milan captures the duo on six compositions like that
described above. The density runs from sparse to moderate and the
elements remain discrete, evoking tightly angled collage-work. It
begs and rewards close listening. Rarely do the pieces fall into
anything resembling a groove or melody, or even clear movements.
Still, the cuts cohere, even as they wander from incidental and
acousmatic sounds to glitchy electro ambience and
string-entangled-ring tones and scratches of various haptic and
synthetic origin. This makes those moments when semblances and hints
at melodic progression, frequently derived from the amaranth,
develop for a few seconds to, in the 16-minute finale Constant
Harmony, several minutes. In places like this one can hear the best
of Young and Wheeler’s playful rapport. Young seems intent on
drawing out more “music” from the collaboration. Wheeler seems
intent on making her stumble, but in the process feints toward,
then embraces stretches of rhythmic scratching and tonal dispatches
from his ElectroComp. They even fall in (and out of) line, flirting
with a sort of harmony toward the middle of the piece, before Young
leans into a droning rhythm and Wheeler returns to his role of
agitator.
What is remarkable about this duo is the fine line they walk between
cacophony and quiet. From Grimsby is neither. Noises rarely
overwhelm, leaving them open to textural listening. They also
persist at moderate levels. Never does this dip too far into
lowercase territory. But the energy is harnessed and, in all its
curiosity and exploration, the duo never really break that energy in
either direction. Young and Wheeler clearly were on the same
aesthetic page on this one and exercise considerable self-restraint
to remain there.