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Review by Bill Binkelman descanos, past is a composition for double bass and four cellos, written by Jim Fox and performed by Barry Newton (bass), Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick, Jessica Catron, Aniela Perry, and Rachel Arnold (all cello). It is a somber and moody piece (the EP-length CD contains only the single fifteen-minute long selection), very similar at times to a classical elegy (the music was written in memory of a friend of Cox's, John Kuhlman), and at other times, while not cheery or upbeat, the music heads into more minimal and sparse impressionistic territory so that the mood, while desolate, is not mournful or morbid. Regardless of the mood of the music at any one instance on the recording, the beauty of the cellos is self-evident, and Newton's bass work is evocative and nuanced. As with the other Cold Blue Music EPs I've reviewed, engineering and production are sterling and the accompanying digipack artwork displays an eye for uncommon aesthetics. Covers of Cold Blue Music releases are, basically, true artwork and descanos, past does not break from that tradition. Moving from solo double bass passages that are propelled by thumping notes that resonate with anger and grief at the loss of a loved one, the music can then shift into a sensitive quasi-adagio in which the massed cellos weave a delicate sad melody while the solitary bass anchors the emotion with sparse yet powerful plucked notes. Like the lonely and forlorn landscapes on the front and back of the CD case, the music contained within speaks of human emptiness and loss that sits beside the beauty and warmth of fond remembrance. If there is a downside to this EP, and it struck me moreso with this release than the other two EP-length recordings I reviewed from this label, it's that the composition's short duration seems too short. It's not a feeling of being "unfinished," but more that the emotional weight of the piece could "soak in more" if the music evolved over a longer period of time. Still, I'd much rather a short dose of brilliance than a heaping helping of mediocrity, that's for sure. For grey-sky days and dark nights of the soul, descanos, past will fill the emptiness in your soul with a sense that you are not alone in your pain. Highly recommended. |
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