'Celebrating rain' and 'Above and below ground level' by Will
Menter
by Ian Simmons
(from www.nthposition.com )
The more I listen to music, the more I find myself drawn to stuff that's
less and less easily defined as music and is probably better described
purely as "sound". Will Menter's work occupies precisely that
borderland. Some of what he does is certainly music, but it is also sound
sculpture and environmental recording. Menter's work has a superb sense
of place - something he shares with Arve Henricksen and brings into play
particularly well on both these CDs. 'Celebrating rain' is perhaps the
more focussed of the two, operating in a sonic space delineated by the
activity of dripping water, while 'Above and below ground level' is more
diverse in its sources. 'Celebrating rain' is the more overtly musical,
with Menter taking his soprano sax to a Welsh beach and an almost dry
waterfall in Burgundy on two of the tracks, and he uses the sound of water
dripping onto slate marimbas elsewhere. These are used to particularly
good effect on "Beautiful Rain", where rain dripping through
oak trees onto the marimbas accompanies the singing of Chartwell Dutiro
and Sianed Jones. In the opener, "Poor Cow", you get a delightful
sense of place from the music, something accentuated on "Ascending
Air", with the sound of stones being thrown into an underground cistern
in Somerset, producing deep, rich echoing tones. It is this particular
piece which has the closest link to 'Above and below ground level', particularly
the two tracks "Stone Reflecting" and "Ice Skid".
"On stone reflecting" the slate marimbas are set up in another
underground chamber, this time a vaulted cellar at Cluny Abbey, and played
by tapping with the fingers. This combines with the warm sound of the
cellar to produce a beautiful and peaceful sound. Thrown stones also play
a part in "Ice Skid", where they are skimmed across a frozen
field, producing a curiously satisfying sound, although not quite as startlingly
unnatural as you get when skimming stones on a frozen pond. It generates
a startling, almost electronic ping. All sorts of aspects of the earth
are covered in 'Above and below ground, which, for a 39-minute CD, is
astonishingly diverse. It opens with "Dots and Dashes", featuring
a recording of a guide taking people on a tour of caves in the Pyrenees
where early rock paintings are to be found. This is probably the least
satisfying track for me, but the guide returns to much better effect in
"The Guiding Song" later in the CD. Clay pots also play a role,
with the sound of clapping in clay pots making up "Transhumance",
and the same sounds, electronically manipulated, becoming part of "Subsistence".
Both these CDs are gentle and unassuming but superbly focussed - no grandiose
gestures, but a masterful exploration of natural environments and materials
and the potential of small gestures, tapping, scraping, clapping dripping,
for producing meaningful results. In this they remind me of Andy Goldsworthy's
landscape art - minimal creative intervention to generate profound artistic
effect in natural space. A lovely, superbly thought-out body of work,
showing a graceful understanding of the environment in which we live and
its potential for sonic pleasure.
Will Menter's CDs are only available from resOnance.
