Crossovers

I last saw Helen Svoboda at SoundOut 2024 and this year she appeared at CIMF with Timo-Veikko 'Tipi' Valve, principal cellist at the Australian Chamber Orchestra.  SoundOut and ACO?  It's an unexpected pairing but thus is CIMF and thus is one of its strengths.  The concert was inspiring.  Helen and Tipi had just met an hour before the concert so this was more a sharing of personal performances, seemingly with time allocations for the unscripted improvs, but it worked a treat.  Helen on double bass, all spacey bowing and harmonics then a lovely voice improvising over the established context.  Tipi blended in with a few JS Bach cello concerto movements which are inevitably known and always loved, and a few written pieces which more matched Helen's improvised offers, one by Kate Moore and another by Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti.  Then an interval and a virtuosic piece by the Finn who must be played, Sibelius Variations for cello.  I loved Helen's improvs but especially her lovely voice, unexpectedly appearing over the bass.  I sat just feet from Tipi and learnt a ton from his bowing and fingering and interpretations, and could do no less than be stunned by his commitment made evident  by his breathing.  What you see up close is dazzling and revealing and so much more intense than the experience in a hall.  This is no work-a-day outing.  A final, stunning concert from CIMF and such a pleasure and honour to be able to record 5 of the concerts.

Timo-Veikko Valve (cello) and Helen Svoboda (bass, vocals) performed form CIMF at the ACCC Chapel.

SoundOut 2024 / 6

I was mostly busy on Sunday but couldn't miss the first performance which was my final: two basses and guitar, Clayton Thomas, Helen Svoboda and Jean-Sebastian Mariage.  I've been mightily impressed and often intrigued by the playing of all these three over this festival.  They were in the smaller room, having starting early so they were playing when audience entered.  Lots of sustained floating drones, I thought around A given harmonics and open strings, contrasting harmonics harmonies, some interesting atonal melody note plays from Clayton and Jean-Sebastian, bowing from all including guitar, and some bass pizz and an end on a relative quietude and high bass harmonics.  Quite a lovely engrossing performance, unusual with those dissonant pizz lines which are somewhat a revelation after the consistent harmonies of bass harmonics.  So an end for SoundOut 2024.  This one had more relevance and meaning for me, perhaps because I got to perform, somewhat because the act of performance and preparation taught something of the approach and style.  I also better understood the nature of experimental vs free jazz.  And there were some really impressive musicians.  I will single out some favourites but this is not exhaustive and just from those I heard: Clayton Thomas, Helen Svoboda, Novak Milojlovic, Guylaine Cosseron, Maria Moles, Jean-Sebastian Mariage, Laurence Pike but, as I said, a personal list.  Congrats to all and especially to Richard Johnson who brought together the 15th instance of this fascinating, challenging and unusual gathering.  Given our political bent from Clayton, I'll add a few relevant pics from the Lyneham Shops.

Clayton Thomas (bass), Helen Svoboda (bass) and Jean-Sebastian Mariage (guitar) performed my final concert at SoundOut 2024.

SoundOut 2024 / 3

Next was a morning workshop featuring two bassists.  How could I not attend?  We were in the smaller performance room, bare walls and very alive, with about 20 attendees.  First part was Helen Svoboda with Maria Moles.  They first performed, then discussed their approach, how they outline their performances and guide their improvisations, how they interpret an image or theme as parameters.  Parameters was from writings of Anthony Braxton, possibly otherwise expressed as expression and relevant to the theme you wish to play, so a rolling landscape may be interpreted as long, gentle notes and Jackson Pollock would be short or staccato.  And how players perform together conceptually and musically.  I particularly enjoyed the conversation and broader aspects of musicianship and their personal journeys, like, how Helen records lots of her practice and releases an albums each year (three so far on Spotify) or how Maria also plays pop/indie and how it's all relevant.  And the group finally played together with some guidance on parameters.  This was particularly relevant because Clayton Thomas took the second half of the session to prepare us to perform later as the Large Ensemble.  He introduced a series of rules to guide our performance which were later to become a little more complex with the addition of several of the performing players for performance that night.  Some rules were: only play in space; play short notes; look up and be aware of others' playing; long notes allowed when you respond to other/s; whenever you introduce a new phrase/note, play your previous notes/phrases first, thus 1, 1, 1-2... A later prep session would expand to include a structure: Miro introduces, all play the rules above, Helen starts quiet drone, Novak solos over drone as the ensemble crescendos very, very slowly to overwhelm piano then stop on signal.  Thus is experimental music.  I understand it better now.

A workshop was in two parts with Helen Svoboda (bass) and Maria Moles (drums) then Clayton Thomas (bass, large ensemble leader).

SoundOut 2024 / 1

Richard Johnson's SoundOut festival is back for its 15th incarnation.  It's presumably well known in these pages as an experimental and free jazz festival featuring Canberrans, Australians and a spattering of internationals.  And for that matter, sadly, just a spattering of audience.  This is not the most popular musical style: eclectic and authentic, yes, but popularity limited.  I won't get too all, but I do expect to get to one workshop and two or three concert sessions.  First up was Session 1 Friday evening.  I came in as Biomorph were performing.  This is the veritable core group of Richard Johnson and Rhys Butler playing tenor and alto saxes.  I heard flickering, moody, floating, whale calls, tonguing and horn staccatos and a closeness that comes with time playing together.  Then French internationals Animal Duo comprising Diemo Schwartz (electronics) and Guylaine Cosseron (vocals).  Sounds of cymbals, explosives, unexpected dynamics and more from synth and vocals that sounded of wind, grunts, animal noises and gutted with taped vocal chords.  Variously swelling, settling, floating, menacing.  Third up was a favourite for me, especially given I play bass.  Panghalina comprises an odd combination of bass plus two drummers, each playing another instrument, vocals or synth.   It comprised Helen Svoboda (bass, vocals), Bonnie Stewart (drums, vocals) and Maria Moles (drums, synth).  This sounded more ordered to my ears, but still mightily improvised.  They told me later of SoundOut being an opportunity return to improv roots given they are otherwise touring an album and playing those tunes which were originally productions of improv and remain improvisatory but with some structure.  I noted how "this has structure, thus some expectations amongst improv with huge intensity and high wordless vocals".  They later talked of parameters, being standard modes of expression (short note, long notes, staccato, etc) also a pictorial sense, as in long notes as landscape and short notes for Jackson Pollock.  Tech also took a role: Maria's synth but also TC Helicon over Helen's voice and a Boss RC505II to sample and loop Bonnie's voice, but more importantly, their voices found natural, improvised notes and merged through gentleness and harmonies.  Some structure over improv: how I like it.

Biomorph comprised Richard Johnson (tenor) and Rhys Butler (alto).  Animal Duo comprised Diemo Schwartz (electronics) and Guylaine Cosseron (vocals).  Panghalina comprised Helen Svoboda (bass, vocals), Bonnie Stewart (drums, vocals) and Maria Moles (drums, synth).

Better late than never

My apologies!  I watched Meatshell (Helen seemed to pronounce it "Meet-sha", presumably Euro or Scandi) at Earshift then missed the writeup.  So I watched again and here it is.  Strange, as it was one I was particularly hanging out for: lockdown can be my excuse.  Meatshell are a duo of sax and bass/voc, very much at the experimental end of the spectrum and very fascinating to my ears.  Helen's soprano vocals with purpose "there is nothing for me here outside ... now I sit and wonder why / I don't know it's over ... I'm losing my way-y-y-y).  Lovely twiched voice with flits up to end in the style of punk and Scandinavians, propulsive and so-solid grooves from bass or floating fills from sax or bass or beautifully apt and responsive sax melodies.  They started with two songs from their album Since subito, Lost and Growing (out of nothing); then a new song Old mind.  All slapped sax keys and drones and long vocal notes.  Deeply felt and expressed vocals with sympathetic sax lines and challenging, poignant effects.  A final song, Face, had Helen singing bass put down and even more challenging vocals.  Just stunning and ear-opening and challenging to many a comfortable habit.  I am seriously blown out!  Then the chat.  FWIW, they are a couple which may influence things.  Collaborative process?  No formal process, whatever works.  The duo came together new with the first album.  That only had one tune with vocals, so Helen's singing is new.  Now she loves the singing, even happy to put down the bass.  (I think it showed on Face).  Tunes may start with a riff or an idea, then a thought, like how many ways to say something.  Then plays with abstacting forms form an original state, pulling apart the puzzle and experimenting: to "decompose" (Wayne Shorter).  Plenty of extended techniques, multiphonics, quarter tones, articulations, slaps.  They have both studied extended techniques for Masters studies in overseas; Banff and NYC got mentioned; perhaps more in Europe or Scandinavia.  They mention the influence of European folk which they heard frequently overseas.  And finding things that blend and conflict, but intentionally, of the joy and unpredictability in combined sounds; unexpected but conscious.   This performance was not much rehearsed, to save freshness and prerecroded for lighting and presentation (and followed with a celebratory pizza).  Andrew spoke of the novelty of live-to-air balancing against presentation value and the product, so needed these days.  So an interesting discussion and just a stunning performance.  Hugely impressed and much intrigued.

Meatshell are Helen Svoboda (vocals, bass) and Andrew Saragossi (tenor).  They performed for Earshift Festival.