EVAN PARKER ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC ENSEMBLE

Drawn Inward

(ECM) Used CD $8.00

Drawn Inward adds computer musician / composer Lawrence Casserley to the Toward The Margins line-up, which means at any given moment, up to five musicians are playing live electronics, increasing the fascinating maze-like complexity of the sound that swirls around Parker’s extraordinary saxophone. From 1999. Includes O-card

EVAN PARKER ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC ENSEMBLE

Toward The Margins

(ECM) Used CD $10.00

Grating strings first clear out the rafters, shafting like light from behind a broken cloud. Parker’s soprano scratches gently at their back. Grumblings and sampled ether flutter and churn, tripping down sand-covered stairs like a creature covered with feet, so that it is always standing no matter how it lands. Compartmentalized echoes share their cubicles with shallow utterances of deeper assignments. Barry Guy’s double bass ties its strings into a tangle of self-awareness as Parker trembles within his own computer-augmented aftershocks. Like a flock of geese in overdrive, he burns in the upper atmosphere before he dares dream of land. Melody is but an afterthought to the sputtering multitudes, caught in the welcoming stare of an unwanted stranger. The overall sound is subdued yet robust. It inhabits the crawlspace of our dreams. The haunting final track lingers in our bones, long after the silence comes, animating a body whose only fear is cogency. Overall, an amazing cross-referencing of free improvisation, live electronics and real-time sound processing. From 1997. Includes O-card