microphones in the trees: joshua abrams

Saturday, September 22, 2012

joshua abrams

 joshua abrams ~ represencing (eremite, 2012)

 "Represencing is an ethereal collection of static snapshots, spirited over sonic sand dunes by the textured tonal linger of Abramsguimbri (a traditional North African stringed instrument).

  recorded at home, abrams again organizes small group statements around the resonant grooves of the guimbri with a unique & broadly assimilative compositional voice. sources from traditional musics to minimalism, jazz to krautrock, animate represencing, but Abrams is always grounded in the solidity of true working musicianship & he proves himself an artist fluent not just in styles but traditions.  abrams' guest musicians embrace his polyglot approach.  goaded by abrams to focus on a particular facet of their musical vocabularies, jeff parker & emmett kelly appear as finely contrasting rhythm guitarists, michael zerang gets virtuosic on a tambourine, david boykin devotes himself to altissimo long-tones & circular breathing, jason stein's bass clarinet, or, as with nicole mitchell's diaphanous choir of flute parts, function as landscape. the moondog-influenced "sungazer" is an aria for tomeka reid's spirited cello.  throughout the album gong rhythms, synthesizer "sub" bass, harmonium & organ return as unifying coloristic elements.  abrams likens the overall concept to "entering a forest from different directions", sandy bull's duets with billy higgins, don cherry, arnold dreyblatt, hamza el din, popul vuh, & pharaoh sanders as inspirations." eremite 

foto via peter harris

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