umbra

Cover art for Seth Nehil - Umbra, radiating lines from small circles, cross and overlap.  Ink drawing from black walnut by Seth Nehil

…edition xxv · 2003 CD · Composed 1999–2001

Continuous pitched sounds with an undercurrent of white noise. Air on the edges of tone, amplified through a compositional process of massing and layering, the incorporation of room tone and re-recording of environments. Sonic shadows — sound as a casting of color or dark, the slowly unfolding shade of space within a field of time. Night music. Sources include blown bottles, pump organ, voice, bowed autoharp, piano, recorder, sackbut — alongside field recordings of fireworks, crickets, caves on the Oregon coast, a rotating electric sign in the cobblestone streets of Maribor Slovenia, boiling water.

"Harvests comparatively more active sound fields for their resonant tonalities... a far more urgent recording... incredibly strong work that warrants favorable comparisons to Phill Niblock and Francisco Lopez." — Jim Haynes, The Wire, June 2003

"Mysterious crevices and eyebrow-curling curiosities... there is a certain presence looming in the near distance." — TJ Norris, igloo.com

"The music always sounds so meaningful and natural." — François Couture, All Music Guide

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