Monday 29 August 2011
In love and in justice
Five things I learned while listening to Colin Stetson‘s New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges:
1. Circular breathing is the technique of simultaneously breathing through your nose while exhaling through your mouth, making it possible to continuously play a wind instrument, like a bass saxophone for instance. Stetson has been able to perfect the technique, therefore allowing the incredibly long and sustained melodic lines he’s able to play.
2. All of the compositions on New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges were written and performed by Stetson alone. Everything you hear his him, thanks to a unique recording process that has 24 mics placed strategically through the room, on his body and instrument. What’s the percussion sounds you’re hearing you ask? Most likely it’s the sound of Stetson’s fingers striking the sax’s keys, captured by mics placed right on the instrument. Or the clicking sound he’s making with his lips and tongue as he plays. Hell, it could even be the mic’d beating of his own heart; but it’s all him.
3. Okay, not everything was performed live in one take: the guest vocals by Laurie Anderson and Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond) and a (brief) french horn passage were multi-tracked afterwards. Still, the rest of it is all him!
4. There may be a lot about music composition and technique that I don’t know, but I do know about performance and audience impact, and New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges, if allowed to, will deliver an impact equal to being slammed into a padded wall by a heavy bag. Your skin might not break, but you’ll be bruised and winded from the onslaught. It is an arcane, mysterious record, beautiful in its menacing sound. Stetson attacks his instrument with fearlessness and no hesitation. These are marathon performances that require a physicality and level of fitness that’s beyond a few miles on the treadmill every couple of days. I defy anyone, knowing just how Stetson went about making this record, to listen and not feel some sense of astonishment at what he’s achieved.
5. I’m going to have one heck of a hard time coming up with something unique and original to say about New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges when it comes time to write my Polaris Music Prize re-cap post about it. After having the LP suggested by my fellow jurors, I’ve listened to it over and over, trying to get a handle on it, with little success. That’s not to say it didn’t connect with me, it’s just a record that’s so idiosyncratic that I didn’t really have a context to frame it in. That’s when I realized that there really is no convenient, conventional box to put it in: it’s not necessarily jazz, or rock, or classical, or what have you. It creates a whole new paradigm of its own. How in God’s name am I going to come up with a post that manages to sum all that up?
Oh, wait. Never mind.
New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges was released on February 22, 2011 by Constellation Records.
Like all my previous Polaris 2011 re-cap posts, this one comes with a chance to win your own copy of New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges; all you have to do is visit the Quick Before It Melts Facebook page, “Like” and/or Comment on this post on our Wall. A winner will be randomly selected from all the Likes and Comments left before midnight, September 5. (Please be sure to check that your Facebook privacy settings will allow me to send you a message directly if you’re the lucky winner.) For those not on Facebook, you can also enter by leaving a comment here through the link below. thanks to the good people at Constellation Records for furnishing the prize this contest!
MP3: Colin Stetson “The stars in his head (Dark Lights Remix)”
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