CD digipack 6 pagine

Lawrence Casserley _ signal processing instrument
Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg _ voce
Yoko Miura _ pianoforte

Elettroacustica molto particolare di altissimo livello. Registrato nell'ottobre 2018, le tracce 1 e 9 in concerto al Cellule 133 di Bruxelles, le tracce da 2 a 8 alla Pianos Maene Concert Hal, Bruxelles. Registrato da Michel Rutsaert, mixato ed editato da Lawrence Casserley.
Per maggiori informazioni:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Casserley
http://www.lcasserley.co.uk
https://orynx.bandcamp.com (Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg)
http://yokomiura.main.jp

"(...) E’ un’argomento di fisica geografica che ispira il nuovo cd di Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, compiuto in trio con Lawrence Casserley e Yoko Miura. Lo Sverdrup Balance è legato alle correnti oceaniche e ai movimenti del vento lungo i meridiani, cosicché l’idea del trio è quella di fornire una musica che abbia caratteristiche emotive simili. Ed in verità qui si uniscono tre “correnti” differenti, poiché ognuno dei tre musicisti esporta il proprio stile e lo colloca saggiamente nell’interazione: delle qualità di Jean-Michel ho ampiamente parlato in passato, una fucina di ricercate prodezze vocali che si mettono al servizio dell’imperativo improvvisativo; Casserley è un’istituzione del signal processing, una tecnica che gli consente di elaborare real time segnali acustici provenienti dall’ambiente musicale; la Miura è invece una pianista che ha nel suo dna regni di libera espressione caratterizzati comunque da sensibilità e tenerezza degli intenti come in una peinture sonora. In Isla Decepciòn (titolo mutuato dall’isola dell’Antartide dove numerose sono le forze naturali in campo) il trio delle correnti si regola strada facendo per tenere in equilibrio il flusso principale della musica, che ne deve uscire avventurosa e persino scorrevole. Casserley e Van Schouwburg sono da tempo insieme nei concerti e nelle esibizioni in giro per il mondo, poiché quel connubio tra vocalità ed elettronica è tra le cose più rare che si possono trovare nella musica; ciò che viene tolto dalle loro esibizioni live, indebolite dall’insufficienza acustica dei luoghi dei concerti, ritorna netto nelle registrazioni, che forniscono intatto l’incredibile campionario del cantante belga e la straniante elettronica dell’inglese: con Van Schouwburg ti senti come se ti stessi muovendo in un cartone di Tin Tin o come se raccogliessi il parlato rissoso di un barbone per strada; mentre Casserley apre plurime dimensioni di scenari e situazioni sensorie. Ma in Isla Decepciòn c’è un elemento in più, una combinazione meravigliosa con l’impronta della Miura, che naturalmente dona quell’utile tasso di emotività subliminale: come vedere le cose da un oblò o da una finestra su un panorama. Splendidi risultati." Ettore Garzia, Percorsi Musicali, 2019.

"(...) Des notes éparses au piano qui suffisent à donner une couleur, à esquisser un espace, à propager très vite des sentiments diffus, où rien n’est clair, tranché, où l’entre deux est le seul lieu qui vaille.
Des brouillages électroniques discrets, la litote comme bréviaire, diverses nuances monochromes, l’aube d’une nature minérale sourd de signaux digitaux.
Une voix comme des grésillements, avant qu’elle ne s’affirme, qu’elle ne se scinde, qu’elle n’halète, qu’elle ne tremble. Un vibrato qui dit l’éloignement, la nostalgie, qui murmure un appel. Et quand la voix s’affirme davantage, elle devient chant d’une âme solitaire puis s’éteint.
Le piano se met à gronder doucement, à faire résonner la caisse, à planter quelques banderilles, à faire surgir quelques vagues sonores. L’électronique prend des allures de cloches tubulaires, diffuse des brouillages métalliques. La voix revient pour un soliloque virtuose où bien des sentiments s’emmêlent en des zébrures d’humanité. C’était « Neptune Bellows ».
Neuf errances sont ainsi proposées dans cet album qui nous présente la géographie d’une île lointaine, près du cercle polaire antarctique. Une île désertée par les hommes, hormis des scientifiques. Un lieu propice à la redécouverte de soi-même, de sa vérité. Trois voix qui chacune prend un nom de lieu, « Fumarole Bay » par exemple, comme métaphore pour explorer un paysage mental, pour ouvrir sa propre voie, pour parfois croiser celle des autres, dans une sorte de documentaire imaginaire d’une subtilité frissonnante.
Yoko Miura excelle dans cette économie des touches, des caresses, des vaguelettes sonores, pour suggérer la rude poésie de ces espaces hostiles.
Lawrence Casserley fait le choix de la parcimonie, des tremblements métalliques doux ou sombres, des souffles devenant parfois blizzards, des brouillages.
Quant à Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, il surprend par la flexibilité de sa voix, par sa plasticité, pour dire bien des choses étranges ou familières, avec ce mélange de chants, de vibrations, d’halètements, de grincements, de plaintes, de frénésie sauvage parfois, de murmures aussi, de soliloques qui frôlent la solitude de la folie.
Cet album nous invite ainsi à une exploration cartographique imaginaire, à la mise en résonance des sensibilités des trois musiciens, chacun semblant suivre sa voie. Un projet musical d’une grande délicatesse des sentiments, des couleurs et des images. Cette errance onirique captive." Jazz à Paris, 2019.

"(...) Tokyo-born Yoko Miura took classical piano lessons from the age of 5 to 18. Inspired by players such as Thelonious Monk, Eric Dolphy and Paul Bley she took classes in jazz. She was soon playing concerts in Japan with players like guitarist Ryouichi Saito, percussionist Jyunzo Tateiwa and shamisen & bassist Noribumi Uchida. By 2001 she was playing overseas as well as in Japan. Following a European tour in 2003, she forged links with many European players and she has been a regular visitor to the continent ever since. She has said of her playing with others, "It's like we're traveling on parallel paths to a destination. We communicate with each other by feeling and instinct. Personally, I take in sounds not as musical notes or chords, just as energy or vibration. I put several tones into our musical field and watch the chemical reaction. It'd be a kind of adventure." Sverdrup Balance is the name of the trio of Miura on piano, English electronicist Lawrence Casserley (who is also a member of Evan Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble) signal processing, and self-taught Belgian voice artist Jean Michel van Schouwburg. Before this recording, the three had played together in October 2014 at John Russell's monthly Mopomoso improv gig at the Vortex, London. Casserley & van Schouwburg had recorded the duo album Mouthwind (HEyeRMEarS/DISCORBIE, 2010), and Miura & van Schouwburg had recorded the duo On the Shore of Dreams (FMP, 2017). So, no introductions were necessary on October 26th 2018, when Sverdrup Balance gathered to record this album at two venues in Brussels (the opening and closing tracks in concert, at Cellule 133; the tracks in between at Pianos Maene Concert Hall.)
The trio's own metaphor for their music appears in the sleeve notes; it explains the group name and is impossible to argue with: "The Antarctic Circumpolar Current, flowing at 125 Sverdrups, is the largest oceanic current, flowing past, around and through the archipelagos and islands. The currents divert, interweave, dive from the surface to the depths and rise again unpredictably, just as in our performance we constantly vary and interweave our relationships with each other and with the group." In part, the group's varying and interweaving are attributable to van Schouwburg who always displays the variety of his vocals and techniques as well as great breath control; one minute he can be rhythmic and alliterative, the next producing hissing, spitting and breathing sounds, before morphing into a cartoon character or inserting an operatic flourish. Besides comic elements, he delivers melodic, harmonious singing as a reminder of his musicality.
Doubtless not wishing to be the serious supports to van Schouwburg's comic turn, Casserley and Miura nonetheless do provide stability when it is needed, as well as inserting their own unpredictable elements and flourishes when appropriate. Throughout, there is ebb and flow between the three with none of them being typecast in a particular role. As a trio, they work well together." John Eyles, All About Jazz USA, 2020.

01 _ Neptune’s Bellows 9:09
02 _ Fumarole Bay 6:06
03 _ Sewing-Machine Needles Islands 1:47
04 _ Cathedral Crags 8:23
05 _ Pendulum Cove 5:24
06 _ Ice Cliffs from Baily Head to Macaroni Point 11:59
07 _ Stonethrow Ridge 1:52
08 _ Telefon Bay 4:25
09 _ Mount Uritorco 9:17

(C) + (P) 2019

CD digipack 6 pages

Lawrence Casserley _ signal processing instrument
Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg _ voice
Yoko Miura _ piano

Very special and distinctive electroacoustic of highest level. From the liner notes: "The music of Sverdrup Balance is a merging of streams and currents as they flow down mountains, through gorges, valleys and estuaries, across oceans, around and between islands and beneath the surface of the seas, as they interact with the winds that flow above and across the surface.
Three powerful streams - Yoko Miura’s piano, Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg’s voice and Lawrence Casserley’s Signal Processing Instrument merge into a tremendous tumbling torrent that tears through the maelstrom. Each player has a unique musical personality that is clearly stated, but also submerged into our collaboration. The unity and the diversity are the essence of our interaction. The music is in constant flux, both individually and collectively, absorbing each others’ power and sensitivity - creating new flows on many levels.
The balance of all these flows lies between the freedom of the players and the undertow of the rules of engagement. We are all soloists, all accompanists and all parts of the coalescent continuum that enfolds our compound cooperation.
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current, flowing at 125 Sverdrups, is the largest oceanic current, flowing past, around and through the archipelagos and islands. The currents divert, interweave, dive from the surface to the depths and rise again unpredictably, just as in our performance we constantly vary and interweave our relationships with each other and with the group.
Volcanoes, ridges, crags and ice cliffs tower above the bays and islands, and the ever pervasive current. In the centre, between Neptune’s Bellows and Mount Uritorco we catch glimpses of the calm of the caldera; a momentary respite from the turbulent streams. This is Isla Decepción."
Recorded on October 2018, tracks 1 and 9 in concert at Cellule 133, Brussels, tracks 2 to 8 at Pianos Maene Concert Hall, Brussels. Recorded by Michel Rutsaert, mixed and edited by Lawrence Casserley.
For more info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Casserley
http://www.lcasserley.co.uk
https://orynx.bandcamp.com (Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg)
http://yokomiura.main.jp

"(...) Tokyo-born Yoko Miura took classical piano lessons from the age of 5 to 18. Inspired by players such as Thelonious Monk, Eric Dolphy and Paul Bley she took classes in jazz. She was soon playing concerts in Japan with players like guitarist Ryouichi Saito, percussionist Jyunzo Tateiwa and shamisen & bassist Noribumi Uchida. By 2001 she was playing overseas as well as in Japan. Following a European tour in 2003, she forged links with many European players and she has been a regular visitor to the continent ever since. She has said of her playing with others, "It's like we're traveling on parallel paths to a destination. We communicate with each other by feeling and instinct. Personally, I take in sounds not as musical notes or chords, just as energy or vibration. I put several tones into our musical field and watch the chemical reaction. It'd be a kind of adventure." Sverdrup Balance is the name of the trio of Miura on piano, English electronicist Lawrence Casserley (who is also a member of Evan Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble) signal processing, and self-taught Belgian voice artist Jean Michel van Schouwburg. Before this recording, the three had played together in October 2014 at John Russell's monthly Mopomoso improv gig at the Vortex, London. Casserley & van Schouwburg had recorded the duo album Mouthwind (HEyeRMEarS/DISCORBIE, 2010), and Miura & van Schouwburg had recorded the duo On the Shore of Dreams (FMP, 2017). So, no introductions were necessary on October 26th 2018, when Sverdrup Balance gathered to record this album at two venues in Brussels (the opening and closing tracks in concert, at Cellule 133; the tracks in between at Pianos Maene Concert Hall.)
The trio's own metaphor for their music appears in the sleeve notes; it explains the group name and is impossible to argue with: "The Antarctic Circumpolar Current, flowing at 125 Sverdrups, is the largest oceanic current, flowing past, around and through the archipelagos and islands. The currents divert, interweave, dive from the surface to the depths and rise again unpredictably, just as in our performance we constantly vary and interweave our relationships with each other and with the group." In part, the group's varying and interweaving are attributable to van Schouwburg who always displays the variety of his vocals and techniques as well as great breath control; one minute he can be rhythmic and alliterative, the next producing hissing, spitting and breathing sounds, before morphing into a cartoon character or inserting an operatic flourish. Besides comic elements, he delivers melodic, harmonious singing as a reminder of his musicality.
Doubtless not wishing to be the serious supports to van Schouwburg's comic turn, Casserley and Miura nonetheless do provide stability when it is needed, as well as inserting their own unpredictable elements and flourishes when appropriate. Throughout, there is ebb and flow between the three with none of them being typecast in a particular role. As a trio, they work well together." John Eyles, All About Jazz USA, 2020.

"(...) Des notes éparses au piano qui suffisent à donner une couleur, à esquisser un espace, à propager très vite des sentiments diffus, où rien n’est clair, tranché, où l’entre deux est le seul lieu qui vaille.
Des brouillages électroniques discrets, la litote comme bréviaire, diverses nuances monochromes, l’aube d’une nature minérale sourd de signaux digitaux.
Une voix comme des grésillements, avant qu’elle ne s’affirme, qu’elle ne se scinde, qu’elle n’halète, qu’elle ne tremble. Un vibrato qui dit l’éloignement, la nostalgie, qui murmure un appel. Et quand la voix s’affirme davantage, elle devient chant d’une âme solitaire puis s’éteint.
Le piano se met à gronder doucement, à faire résonner la caisse, à planter quelques banderilles, à faire surgir quelques vagues sonores. L’électronique prend des allures de cloches tubulaires, diffuse des brouillages métalliques. La voix revient pour un soliloque virtuose où bien des sentiments s’emmêlent en des zébrures d’humanité. C’était « Neptune Bellows ».
Neuf errances sont ainsi proposées dans cet album qui nous présente la géographie d’une île lointaine, près du cercle polaire antarctique. Une île désertée par les hommes, hormis des scientifiques. Un lieu propice à la redécouverte de soi-même, de sa vérité. Trois voix qui chacune prend un nom de lieu, « Fumarole Bay » par exemple, comme métaphore pour explorer un paysage mental, pour ouvrir sa propre voie, pour parfois croiser celle des autres, dans une sorte de documentaire imaginaire d’une subtilité frissonnante.
Yoko Miura excelle dans cette économie des touches, des caresses, des vaguelettes sonores, pour suggérer la rude poésie de ces espaces hostiles.
Lawrence Casserley fait le choix de la parcimonie, des tremblements métalliques doux ou sombres, des souffles devenant parfois blizzards, des brouillages.
Quant à Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, il surprend par la flexibilité de sa voix, par sa plasticité, pour dire bien des choses étranges ou familières, avec ce mélange de chants, de vibrations, d’halètements, de grincements, de plaintes, de frénésie sauvage parfois, de murmures aussi, de soliloques qui frôlent la solitude de la folie.
Cet album nous invite ainsi à une exploration cartographique imaginaire, à la mise en résonance des sensibilités des trois musiciens, chacun semblant suivre sa voie. Un projet musical d’une grande délicatesse des sentiments, des couleurs et des images. Cette errance onirique captive." Jazz à Paris, 2019.

"(...) E’ un’argomento di fisica geografica che ispira il nuovo cd di Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, compiuto in trio con Lawrence Casserley e Yoko Miura. Lo Sverdrup Balance è legato alle correnti oceaniche e ai movimenti del vento lungo i meridiani, cosicché l’idea del trio è quella di fornire una musica che abbia caratteristiche emotive simili. Ed in verità qui si uniscono tre “correnti” differenti, poiché ognuno dei tre musicisti esporta il proprio stile e lo colloca saggiamente nell’interazione: delle qualità di Jean-Michel ho ampiamente parlato in passato, una fucina di ricercate prodezze vocali che si mettono al servizio dell’imperativo improvvisativo; Casserley è un’istituzione del signal processing, una tecnica che gli consente di elaborare real time segnali acustici provenienti dall’ambiente musicale; la Miura è invece una pianista che ha nel suo dna regni di libera espressione caratterizzati comunque da sensibilità e tenerezza degli intenti come in una peinture sonora. In Isla Decepciòn (titolo mutuato dall’isola dell’Antartide dove numerose sono le forze naturali in campo) il trio delle correnti si regola strada facendo per tenere in equilibrio il flusso principale della musica, che ne deve uscire avventurosa e persino scorrevole. Casserley e Van Schouwburg sono da tempo insieme nei concerti e nelle esibizioni in giro per il mondo, poiché quel connubio tra vocalità ed elettronica è tra le cose più rare che si possono trovare nella musica; ciò che viene tolto dalle loro esibizioni live, indebolite dall’insufficienza acustica dei luoghi dei concerti, ritorna netto nelle registrazioni, che forniscono intatto l’incredibile campionario del cantante belga e la straniante elettronica dell’inglese: con Van Schouwburg ti senti come se ti stessi muovendo in un cartone di Tin Tin o come se raccogliessi il parlato rissoso di un barbone per strada; mentre Casserley apre plurime dimensioni di scenari e situazioni sensorie. Ma in Isla Decepciòn c’è un elemento in più, una combinazione meravigliosa con l’impronta della Miura, che naturalmente dona quell’utile tasso di emotività subliminale: come vedere le cose da un oblò o da una finestra su un panorama. Splendidi risultati." Ettore Garzia, Percorsi Musicali, 2019.

01 _ Neptune’s Bellows 9:09
02 _ Fumarole Bay 6:06
03 _ Sewing-Machine Needles Islands 1:47
04 _ Cathedral Crags 8:23
05 _ Pendulum Cove 5:24
06 _ Ice Cliffs from Baily Head to Macaroni Point 11:59
07 _ Stonethrow Ridge 1:52
08 _ Telefon Bay 4:25
09 _ Mount Uritorco 9:17

(C) + (P) 2019