Solo Andata / Seaworthy / Taylor Deupree: Live in Melbourne
12k

Live in Melbourne finds 12k artists Solo Andata, Seaworthy, and Taylor Deupree serenading listeners on April 14th, 2007 at Melbourne's Northcote Social Club with respectively idiosyncratic meldings of digital technology and acoustic instrument sounds. Following upon their Fyris Swan Hefty release, Solo Andata (Paul Fiocco and Kane Ikin) opens the proceedings with an arresting mix of natural instrument and laptop-based electronic sounds that begins with a fluttering array of squeals, pianos, and drums before settling into a restful state where elegant piano chords, guitar plucks, and percussion intermingle, sometimes disjointedly, with electronic abstractions and environmental noises. Bird calls and peaceful electric guitar shadings introduce Cameron Webb's Seaworthy piece, which proceeds to beautifully spread its melancholic wings with a graceful and unhurried poise for nineteen entrancing minutes. Webb incrementally builds multiple layers of loops and textures, providing a base for further pealing lines to delicately unspool overtop. Deupree's closing piece may be superficially less dynamic than the other two but invites and rewards close listening. Over thirteen placid minutes, the 12k head sustains an expertly modulated balance between elements, with bright tones bubbling to the surface of the softly clicking drone. For the record, Live in Melbourne is part of the label's “limited” series where live recordings, conceptual releases, and so forth are “quietly released beneath the radar.”

May 2008