Ted Killian
|
Beautiful and Brainy Music
My favorite music usually has some sort of sense of depth to it. And, what I mean by that is that there is an apparent foreground and background - things that are easily heard on the surface and, upon closer listening, much more just below it. "Fields and Fences" by Erdem Helvacioğlu and Bill Walker is just like that. Despite the fact that Erdem's signture production techniques and sound design are all over the disc, what seems on the surface (at least to me) is Bill's always lovely and distinctive slide guitar work and loops - a whole album of which would be a very worthy listen all on it's own. If you happen to have a noisy listening environment like I do in my car, it it pretty much his (Bill's) instrumental voice you hear...mostly. [There is a lot being assumed in that last statement, but I have heard both of these musicians perform live and I have recordings of both individually.] Anyway, if you then happen to have a chance to listen again to this album a quieter environment with good speakers or headphones, it's as though the mists have dissipated and the curtains parted in a most remarkable way to reveal a whole new musical world. It's like the difference between looking at a beautiful Audubon illustration of some fantastic bird on a the pale ecru page of a book and then viewing up close in 3D in the wild. That is not to say that Erdem's contributions are all "ambient" ones. They are, in fact, as highly detailed as to constitute a whole world of interest on their own. However, in the case of this recording, they are nonetheless much subtler, somewhat subordinate, and much in need of a more quiet and concentrated listen to be fully appreciated. The combination is quite canny, and I find myself unable to believe it was not entirely deliberate. It also helps that the quality of the recording is as squeaky clean and hi-fidelity as could ever be hoped for (another thing that one appreciates on closer, more intimate listenings). There are a couple of tracks on this disc that seem to (maybe) be much more duet-like. "Smoke from a Distant Hill" seems to have a sort of call-and-response to it. And, the title (and final) track on the CD starts out as perhaps the lone exception where the musical roles seem to be reversed and Erdem's musical voice is more dominant (use of the TogaMan GuitarViol is the main givaway clue). It is the only track where there isn't particularly a distinct, pastoral, east-meets-west, Asia-meets-the-delta-blues, feel throughout. It is also a track with a number of different "sections" - areas with different ideas and music "feels" change and (for lack of a better word) wander - making it all the more complex, abstract, or "spacey." I think it's a great way to close out the disc. One can only hope that this is not the only recording we will ever hear from the pair.
Read more...
|