Ezra Feinberg & John Kolodij: Split
Whited Sepulchre Records
Perhaps I'm missing something, but it's not entirely clear to me whether this split album (vinyl and digital formats) by multi-instrumentalist John Kolodij (aka High Aura'd) and Jackson Heights, NY-based guitarist, composer, and psychoanalyst Ezra Feinberg collects two separate productions from each or four pieces performed by both but with authorship split between them. Ultimately the point's moot: while there are differences between the pieces, they're complementary enough in sound and sensibility that they could be (if they're not) 100% collaborations. Trailing behind each artist are years of experience and releases spread across a plethora of labels, and both have also played with a staggering list of kindred spirits.
On the thirty-six-minute release, Feinberg's two pieces, “Figure & Ground” and “Castle & Sand” are backed by Kolodij's “Beyond the Fragile” and “Geometry of Space.” Electronic processing and related manipulations were no doubt used in the construction of the material, but the settings nonetheless retain an acoustic essence when instruments appear identifiably throughout. “Figure & Ground” unfurls in an opiated daze with wailing flute figures and shimmering strums stretched across a softly droning undercurrent, the creation evoking a hallucinatory vista extending as far as the eye can see. Guitar twang is prominent in “Castle & Sand,” the instrument's dusty tones supported by blurry piano sprinklings. Flip the disc and darker sonorities introduce “Beyond the Fragile” before gentle acoustic strums lighten the mood and add pastoral flavour. Gradually the clouds part and a softly swirling radiance asserts itself, with the fuzz and grime of Kolodij's guitar giving the piece a rough-hewn quality. The ghostliest of the four settings is clearly “Geometry of Space,” its spectral character generated through a sedate flow of quiet tinkles and lulling rhythms, though full-throated tenor sax soloing also surfaces to point the piece in a somewhat smoldering direction. Though there's activity and transformation aplenty in these four settings, they're largely peaceful and relaxation-inducing—music helpful at easing the pressure of this pandemic period.September 2020