|
K Leimer's ambitiously experimental contribution to the Fog Music series may seem contrary to the music of good order. Pushing back against sonic categories and hierarchies of all kind, on Fog Music 29 (35'12') Leimer concentrates on timbre, texture, dynamics, and density. Unfolding in one slow gritty gesture, transformations of tone color and the intelligent dissolution of a musical phrase edge this work toward the surreal. Forming a temporal space of his own creation Leimer follows whatever dark drive is inside his head. As ghostly traces of the now condense out of small sonic gestures, Fog Music 29 sprawls to the point of formlessness. Throughout this piece shifting textures and unusual sounds play with the listeners sense of time. Near the beginning, somewhere around the middle, and then again prior to the end, grand piano notes and deep bass plucks bring out a friendly warmth. We may discern percussive sounds, but any evidence is obscured by the distorted digital glow of extensive processing. It will be difficult to describe any of the accompanying sounds either - other than that they sustain for several moments, during which their very nature is constantly in flux, and eventually in their place is left something different. Where once was steaming white noise is now a feebly writhing crunch. Rushing electronic currents interchange with a breathing atmosphere, while scraping bells wither into rustling blips. So goes Fog Music 29 in its slow continuous advance. Here K Leimer has created a precision space where both forces of dark and light exist equally - an evocation of the elemental phenomenon that fog itself symbolizes. In the hands of a lesser musician this endeavor would seem boring.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 4 June 2015 |
