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Arc: The Pursuit Of Happiness
ByThe trio's design consists of three instruments spanning low to upper register sounds and tonal contrasts. It conjures up an organic acoustic element nicely offset by the streaming and accenting live electronics factor. Cellist Danny Kingshall's creaky arco-passages intersect with bassist Gus Garside's fluent notes and violinist Sylvia Hallett's intense staccato phrasings. With the electronics, they create motifs that could spark thoughts of a machine shop running on old equipment in need of repair, yet it's a divergent program, teeming with subtle surprises.
The musicians interrogate each other via probing dialogues, hued with emotive sentiment and avant-minimalism. On "Phantom Caravan," Hallett and Kingshill's wordless voice parts ride atop droning strings and frantic developments. They also engineer numerous tension and release type statements in concert with free-chamber type excursions. Hence, they embrace innumerable angles, variances in pitch and depth, and render a variety of cunning propositions throughout.
Track Listing
Binding Light; The Rite of Strings; Quintessence; Forgetting All Over Again; Phantom Caravan; Grandpa's Box; Sand Maps; A Chance Occurrence; The Pursuit of Happiness; Dividing Into One; Where Rivers Meet.
Personnel
Sylvia Hallett: violin, electronics, voice; Danny Kingshill: cello, voice; Gus Garside: double-bass, electronics.
Album information
Title: The Pursuit Of Happiness | Year Released: 2009 | Record Label: Emanem
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