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“More Field Recordings”

by Evan Pengra Sult

Prerecorded sounds permeate our lives, to the point that they fade into the background – when’s the last time you really listened to that soothing voice making safety announcements at the airport or the nature sounds being piped into your salon? But while we’ve been tuning out, the endlessly engaging contemporary music ensemble Bang On A Can has been keeping their ears wide open. For their latest CD, more field recordings, they asked 13 different composers to write short works (averaging 5 minutes each) inspired by or in dialogue with pre-recorded sounds, from oral histories to birdsong. The result is a fascinating and user-friendly journey through soundworlds both ancient and modern; you’ll never hear “background noise” in the same way again.

We all have that one relative whose stories drag on and on, seemingly without point, but what if instead of listening to the words, we heard their speech as pure patterns of pitch and rhythm? This seems to be the concept behind Caroline Shaw’s “Really Craft When You,” the opening track, and one of the most intriguing works of the bunch. As a tape plays of a group of women explaining how they make quilts, David Cossin’s subtle percussion accompaniment sneaks in and slowly expands to include cello, clarinet, guitar, and piano. Yet the overall effect is to emphasize the natural beauty of the spoken voice, its soothing rhythms and pleasant lilt.

If you’re feeling jazzy, turn up Richard Parry’s “The Brief and Neverending Blur,” well-suited to a dark and smoky nightclub with its melancholic ennui just the thing to listen to as you nurse your scotch and heartbreak. Flirt with danger and dance a tango to Jace Clayton’s syncopated “Lethe’s Children,” featuring the sultry sounds of Ashley Bathgate’s cello mixed with recordings of ocean waves and what sound like early arcade games. Or treat yourself to a night on the town with René Lussier’s “Nocturnal,” which wails with all the intensity of early bebop, then gives way to an eerie silence punctuated by low and steady breathing.

The remaining tracks fall fairly evenly into one of two stylistic categories: rhythmically driving or slow and brooding. Of the former, Glenn Kotche’s “Time Spirals” is particularly catchy, reminding me of a train station in, say, Istanbul – Middle Eastern harmonies, percussion imitating locomotive noises, and voices reminiscent of loudspeaker announcements mingling to create an indelible impression. In the more brooding vein, Shouwang Zhang’s “Courtyards in Central Beijing” is deceptively simple; gentle winds and distant birdsong overlay Vicky Chow’s pulsing keyboard accompaniment. Somewhere between a heartbeat and a factory machine, it grows ominously as the track progresses, technology slowly suffocating nature.

Bang On A Can recently celebrated its 30th birthday, but middle age shows no signs of arriving; their fresh and daring approaches to new music remain a standard to aspire to. With this 2-CD set, a follow-up to the original field recordings (2000) they’ve showcased that rare thing: contemporary classical music that is easily approachable, even by a novice, but with serious artistic goals. The pre-recorded tracks are never gimmicky, and the compositions are neither offensively complex nor dumbed-down. With any luck, it won’t take 17 years for the next installment, but however long the wait, it will be worth it.