CA02          kiiln   |    Is Music Invisible?

'Is Music Invisible?' is composed of 5 improvisations over two days from the Canadian duo kiiln ( Olsen + Ruhlmann)

Recorded live on 17 November 2012 + 12 January 2013 .

Lance Austin Olsen | tape players, radio, amplified objects + trainer guitar
Mathieu Ruhlmann | ukelin, cymbal, piano + amplified objects

Mastered by Mathieu Ruhlmann

Cover photograph: an installation by Stephanie Leitch

media + reviews:

CA01        D.O.R  |  an occupied house

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'an occupied house' is composed of 6 improvisations
from Canadian trio D.O.R (Drouin, Olsen + Ruhlmann)

Recorded live in Drouin's home on December 14, 2011.

Jamie Drouin | analogue synthesizer + radio
Lance Austin Olsen | copper plates + objects + floor guitar
Mathieu Ruhlmann | objects

Mastered by Jamie Drouin

Cover photograph: an installation by Stephanie Leitch
reviews:

Today I have listened some more to An Occupied House, the first release on the Caduc label- the trio release by D.O.R. who are fellow Canadians Jamie Drouin, (analogue synth and radio) Lance Austin Olsen (copper plate, objects and floor guitar) and Mathieu Ruhlmann (objects). Although I only discovered their must about a year ago I have written once or twice before here on the music of Drouin and Olsen, and have also written about Ruhlmann’s work, though not as an improviser. This disc however might be the best thing I have heard yet from any of them. Its a beautifully controlled, neatly sculpted little set of six quiet, textural and yet subtly varied improvisations. It purrs along at low levels and provides a warmth to the room and yet, if you stop at any one second and really listen there is a brittle and sharp quality to many of the sounds that keep the music from getting too pretty.
One of the most common, and quite understandable criticisms levelled at the quieter, electroacoustic end of the improvised music spectrum has always been that it is too polite, too tastefully safe. An Occupied House is tastefully subdued throughout, but there is an edge to this music. The palette is relatively narrow, and somewhat familiar, full of scratchy pops and noteless, buzzing synths alongside no end of unidentifiable but similarly monochrome sounds made in who knows what manner. Where the music comes into its own however is how the sounds are pitched against one another. The trio sound like they are continually trying to upset the flow rather than let it settle into anything. The disc comes with a quote from my current favourite poet Francis Ponge;

let’s come out of the ground at this chosen place…
So there we’ve found the tone, upon reaching indifference.
That was certainly what mattered most. Everything will flow from that
…some other time

The flow here in the music is one of continual reinvention and struggle however. It consists of little surges that are met with silence, soft, faintly present fizz met by  detuned radio grabs and sudden cracks or drops into blank space, a constant meeting of similar yet ultimately incompatible elements that come together and cast negative shapes onto the silence below them. They might be working within a well-worn area of sound, but these three musicians do not seem to be seeking music that fits a neat stylistic box but work to make music that lives and breathes and writhes around itself. The materials used matter, but not as much as what they are sculpted into. An Occupied House is a real joy for me. It ticks every box I look for in a CD and also hangs onto a little bit of mystery as I am not sure of how more than half of the sounds are made, or who makes them. Lovely, addictive listening then. More please.