TIM STORY

Caravan

Nepenthe Music (2005)

Review by Bill Binkelman

When Caravan first arrived in my mail box, I didn't know what to expect. Tim Story composing the music for a documentary filmed in Africa and Nepal? I wondered what kind of "world music" one of my favorite artists would compose. Looking back, I was naive to think that the minimalist/neo-chamber aritst would suddenly turn into a global fusionist. Caravan, which contains music from the movie (with, as Story recounts in the liner notes "certain changes and elaborations to some of the pieces so that they work better as stand-alone compositions") is yet another brilliant work from the Ohio resident who never fails to amaze me in how he coaxes such heartrending beauty and depth of feeling from relatively few notes. If you enjoy any of his classic "melancholy trilogy" recordings (Beguiled, The Perfect Flaw or Shadowplay), you will almost certainly love Caravan. Yes, some tracks mix in some ethnic music influences, mostly with percussion, and there is some chanting from the Monks of the Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India; however, flowing throughout the twenty-two tracks of the CD are many characteristic sparse sad tone poems of the sort that Story is noted for on the previous albums I mentioned earlier.

To set the stage, Caravan is a documentary from Spanish filmmakers Alán Cantos and Gerardo Olivares. It tells parallel stories of two adolescent boys, one from Nepal and one from Niger, Africa, who embark on a perilous rite of passage, the voyage of the salt caravan. The film follows them and their people through this centuries old tradition and necessity, traversing environments of "incredible beauty and danger."

For the soundtrack, Story has painted miniature musical portraits that convey incredible beauty, forlorn isolation, somber melancholy, ethnic percussive energy and deep mystery. Working once again with a woodwind player (Kim Bryden), a cellist (Martha Reiko) and, something new for a Story recording, a percussionist (Louis Simon), Story himself handles piano and electronic keyboards. As usual, he plays with superb control of nuance as the others do also. The CD is a study in the "less-is-more" philosophy - there are no extra notes, chords, drum beats, or tones/drones anywhere to be found on Caravan. Yes, this is the proverbial perfect recording.

Obviously, detailing all twenty-two tracks (some are quite short) is impossible. From the sweeping synths strings and muted French horns that open the beginning title track, over which sparse piano notes, cello and oboe gracefully pirouette, we segue into delicate harp, haunting synth textures, and an oboe which floats sorrowfully above them on "The High Dolpo." One can almost picture the famed Tibetan valley in the Himalayas, stretching out in its centuries old isolation where time has almost literally stood still for centuries. "Swimming in the Desert" is the first appearance of atypical Story rhythmic elements on the album, featuring Simon's expert work on what sounds like water or log drums, while Story colors the fast rhythms with an undercurrent of light-as-a-feather strings and Bryden contributes some breathy woodwinds. "The Letter" has that somber chamber music sound so characteristic of Story's work on The Perfect Flaw with piano, oboe and strings melding in perfect combination to produce a piece delicate and beautiful, suffused with deep reflective emotion.

There are a few more rhythmic explorations on Caravan e.g. "Tendé," the primal and powerful "A Story In The Rocks," "Hidden Country" which features some wonderful chanting and forcefully intense drumming late in the song, the sultry and intoxicating "Doors of the Teneré," Cloud of Sand" which is menacing and laced with foreboding in its slow tempo drums and swirling synth drones and textures, and the exotic pan-Asian "Emerald Lake".

Some tracks' titles give you a good indication of what to expect. "So Near The Clouds" has an appropriately ethereal air to it, with a tuned bell melody under flowing oboe and synth strings. The short "Tomorrow Another World" hints at falling asleep to the promise of breath-taking adventure. "The Orchard and the Well" flows along with a blend of hope, perseverance and reflection and "Amulet" carries its piano and string in a stately manner, buoyed by cello and barely discernible woodwinds in the background.

I'll tell you what the measuring stick of successful motion picture music is. If you've seen the film, it helps you revisit the images over and over again in your mind's eye, so powerful are the connections between melody, rhythm and the visual memory of the film. If you haven't seen the film, the music piques your interest to the point where you can hardly wait to make that connection of music and sights on the screen. Since I have not yet viewed Caravan, Tim Story's music has me so eager to see it that I can barely stand it. I have to give a huge pat on the back to Messrs.Cantos and Olivares for giving Tim Story, per the liner notes, free rein to stay true to himself. I also want to acknowledge the superb work from the three guest artists, all of whom did an outstanding job bringing this music literally to life.

Finally, to Tim Story, whose music I have loved since I first heard Glass Green many years ago, I can only say "Tim, you have outdone yourself. I didn't think you could equal your trilogy, but you not only equaled it, you surpassed it by incorporating new elements in such as way as to forge a hybrid that bridges the old and the new, satisfying my love of past recordings while exciting my soul with innovation." Caravan is simply a spellbinding achievement and I have no words which are adequate to describe how strongly I recommend it.