Bill Horist - "Lyric/Suite"
Lyric/Suite is a collection of tracks originally designed to accompany a
dance piece conceived by choreographer Davida Monk from Jan Zwucky's work
Lyric Philosophy, itself an exploration of the non-rational processes
involved in artistic creation. Such a collaboration is familiar territory
for Seattle based Horist, whose previous Pere Ubu-inspired group Phineas
Gage employed elements of vaudeville and circus performance in their stage
act. Alone, Horist falls back on his radically extended guitar technique to
produce a collection of abrupt sound essays. Despite being composed and
performed on solo guitar, a piece like "Scissors", with its chopping
electronic cut-outs and sweeping bowed passages has the impact of a far
larger ensemble. Elsewhere there are gentle swells of grandeur and sombre
repose ("Vortex") slithering mock-western slide ("Cadence") and minimalist
percussive guitar ("Nil By Hand").
- Nick Southgate, The Wire
Generally calmer and smoother than Bill Horist's typical output,
Lyric/Suite is a 13-part, 40-minute work of solo multi-tracked electric
guitar. Composed to accompany a choreography conceived by Davida Monk and
premiered at the Banff (Alberta, Canada) Center for the Arts in November
2002, the piece is presented here without its vocal element (excerpts of and
improvisations on a text by Jan Zwicky) and thus stripped from most of its
contextual meaning. What is left stands firmly on its own. The 13 short
movements provide a shifting set of moods while retaining a high level of
cohesion. The music consists of finely arranged stacks of looped guitars.
The 3-to-4-minute format doesn't allow for over-repetition. The guitarist
accumulates his layers quickly, making for some dynamic, fast-paced music.
The "Overture" is surprisingly quiet and built over a cyclical motif
evoking a musical box tune. The work gains momentum over the next few
tracks, increasing in drive, volume and agitation. It culminates in
"Gesture," the only track where Horist showcases his harsher, "noisician"
side. By then, the music evokes the maniacal soundscapes of Robert Fripp,
the thickness of Richard Pinhas's and the languid grace of David
Torn's. Things predictably boil down over the last few tracks, although
"Entropy," the longest piece at six and a half minutes, still packs
several surprises, including some gritty tones and a rhythmical loop of
prepared guitar. Lyric/Suite may not be the most representative item in
Horist's discography, but it stands as one of the truly good albums of
non-ambient multi-tracked solo guitars, along with Torn's Whatever Means
Solid, Traveller? and Bernard Falaise's Do.
- Fran¨ois Couture, All Music Guide
Experimental guitarist Bill Horist has never been known for making music
that's easy on the ears. His bizarro works are challenging, intriguing, but
not usually what you'd call easy listening. But this soundtrack for a dance
performance choreographed by Davida Monk is Horist's most interesting,
enjoyable and listenable work yet. The music suggests strange characters,
like an angry muezzin from a spaghetti western or a lonely gamelan orchestra
member banging a gong on a rainy street. It's still challenging, but it's
his most appealing work to date.
- Brian J. Bowe, Creem
Bill Horist - LYRIC/SUITE: A CD from Horist is always a treat... never a
stagnant moment, new horizons being explored in ways your ears could never
(without his help) imagine. Some of his solo guitar compositions will tease
you into thinking that he's playing "normal" (for a change)... but as the
initial idea expands (and flowers), he shows you (aurally) what creativity
looks like - & it is not what you (necessarily) want it to be. "Lyric/Suite"
is full of gentler points & angles than I'm used to hearing (on Soylent
Radio, f'r'instance) from Bill, but that makes it (after 3 listens) even
stranger than you thought it was (when you were listening to it). This is
where the album has the most value for any listener interested in exploring
the creative process, actually... though you don't realize it until (at
least) a couple days (or months, depending on how well your left brain
functions) later. Another total winner from Mr. Horist - I enjoyed it
thoroughly, & have no doubt that those with any level of creative flow will
support me in giving it a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for listeners who want to
expand their understanding of how music happens!
- Rotcod Zzaj,
Seattle's preeminent experimental guitarist, Bill Horist has entered the
rarefied zone inhabited by six-string explorers like KK Null, Derek Bailey,
Fred Frith, and Robert Fripp. Though he's capable of shredding as
psychedelically as Hendrix or Sonny Sharrock, Horist more often opts to
generate disturbingly alien textures and subliminally creepy motifs that
deserve major screen time in David Lynch's next film. At his frequent local
solo outings, Horist refuses to repeat himself; instead he improvises with
an array of unlikely devices lodged under his strings that keep his
emissions unpredictable and captivating. His new album, Lyric/Suite, offers
yet another fascinating slant on Horist's abstract-expressionist sound art.
- Dave Siegal, The Stranger
Horist's latest solo outing takes place in a much different context than
previous releases; it was developed in 2002 for a Canadian dance performance
(courtesy of choreographer Davida Monk) and recorded at the Banff Centre for
the Arts in Alberta. The differences are obvious right away: "Overture"
opens the suite with lush and heavily-reverbed ambient guitar. The twelve
compositions that follow are a mix of similar ambient excursions, bursts of
electronics and loop-fu, and droning experiments that take advantage of the
hall's beautiful sound. Most of the tracks are considerably more rhythmic
(not surprising, given their composition as part of a dance routine) and
droning than anything he's done before, and he gets some nice wailing
feedback on a number of tracks (most notably on "Dice Dance"). I like the
unnatural (yet hypnotic with repetition) figure that opens "Gesture" --
probably a backwards sample -- and the gruesome squealing and rumbling that
follows. The cyclotron drone of "Doubt" is a smooth move as well. One of the
most interesting tracks is the heavily rhythmic "Entropy," which builds from
stark hypnobeats reminiscent of Scorn's early drum sound into polyrhythms
and noise and strategic clouds of sonic effluvia. He deserves attention for
this track alone, although the entire album is intriguing. This is by far my
favorite Horist release; not only are the sounds themselves inventive and
well-executed, this time the ghost noises and screeching are anchored to a
beat, and Horist is a lot better at layin' down the beat than I would have
previously imagined. Swell, swell stuff....
- Dead Angel
Del chitarrista americano Bill Horist avevamo gia trattato in precedenza in
occasione del suo splendido "Soylent Radio" che ci regalava una serie di
perle avant-noise-jazz realmente notevoli. Quello che ci viene offerto ora
invece sono registrazioni risalenti al 2002 per uno spettacolo di danza
commissionato dalla coreografa canadese Davida Monk basato sul lavoro "Lyric
Philosophy" di Jan Zwicky dove viene affrontata la componente non razionale
che è insita in ogni processo creativo. Sarebbe quindi inesatto parlare di
questo disco come il nuovo album di Bill Horist, considerarlo invece
un'ottima occasione per far conoscenza con la parte più intima e delicata
dell'autore sembra molto più appropriato. Lo spettacolo poneva quesiti
riguardo la percezione ed il linguaggio ed Horist ha tradotto il tema
propostogli inanellando una serie di numeri talvolta lineari, poi
spezzettati ed inquietanti come una frase percepita che non vuol sapere di
fissarsi nella memoria e di tanto in tanto fascinosamente ritmici come il
frammento Entropy dimostra; rivelando anche un'insospettata possibile
parentela dell'autore con certe brumose nostalgie dei Tuxedomoon più europei
e cinematografici. L'iniziale Overture avvolge placida l'ascoltatore in una
dolce atmosfera meditativa ed onirica con i suoi armonici infiniti mentre
lente volute di delays ritmici fioriscono tutto intorno. La successiva
Scissors è molto più vicina al lavoro normale di Horist muovendosi fra
brusche decostruzioni del suono ma senza eccedere in veementi assalti, si
predilige la ripetizione ritmica ed una vena melodica sotterranea ma non
troppo; ombre di Snakefinger a solcare il cielo. Quando si arriva alla
splendida ed evocativa Vortex si rimpiange notevolmente il non avere
occasione di vedere quale sia stata la traduzione corporea di queste note
azzurrissime; dispiace ma non distoglie più di tanto da un brano che sembra
possibile mutazione genetica fra Neil Young e Roy Montgomery. Probabilmente
il lavoro più accessibile pubblicato da Bill Horist sino ad ora ma anche
forse necessario per comprendere appieno le capacità di questo splendido
musicista. Dimenticavo;registrazione dal vivo e copertina intrigante. Vi
occorreva sapere anche questo vero?
- Marco Paolucci, Kathodik
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