Parts were recorded blind and layered. The Shade is unedited, The Squint is edited by reduction.
credits
released October 10, 2009
Lee Noyes: percussion
Barry Chabala: guitars
Mixed by Barry Chabala, July 2009. Further mastering by Lee Noyes, August 2009.
Originally released on Roeba Records, October 2009.
Cover photograph by Lee Noyes.
______________________________
"Which is the best way to attract someone, a whisper or a scream? While the latter will immediately garner a response (i.e. irritation, scowls of "why is this person yelling?"), near-silent communication is mysterious, unnerving and causes all parties to calm down and lean in; maybe the whisperer is merely expressing "ouch, my vocal cords hurt from screaming yesterday", but he certainly has your consideration.
Betraying the fulminating idiosyncrasies of their instruments on the aptly named The Shade & The Squint, guitarist Barry Chabala and percussionist Lee Noyes delight in this form of declaration as they create suspended tautness from their shadowy musical cellar. A sequel to the group's Illuminati project, the two twenty-minute plus works continue an exploration of long-distance collaborations (Noyes in New Zealand, Chabala in New Jersey), blind edits and improvisations within the realm of extended "space, time and timbre".
Beginning with Noyes's reverent tap-drop-roll on "Yin (The Shade)", the duo crochets a meditation by politely burrowing into a spacious performance of judicious tinkering — that is, every gesture is prudent and well-placed. Sticks, knuckles, brushes, fingertips, rubber balls, eraser-on-paper emulations etc. join skin and metal, Noyes analyzing all areas of his drum and cymbal with creative kindness/coercion. Chabala guides a meager drone of lower frequencies with tone and volume knobs, gently runs a thumbnail across strings and manages fussy amplifier pots and pickups radiating near power strips. Form and development are determined by color and the otherwise meandering nature is purposeful due to gracious pauses; and with such an economic aesthetic, Noyes and Chabala can dramatically switch gears by introducing a single sound, as they do with a hollow breathy noise (blowing into hands over a snare?) at the thirteen-minute mark.
Working with even more concision, the duo removes the electrical hum and whirring scree, then pendulates between silent passages and punctuated atomic gestures (perhaps absence is the sentence and music the syntax?) on "Yang (The Squint)": Chabala coolly plucks open strings, or strums reverberating chords, or sits quietly while Noyes picks at rims, spins tops and wiggles objects; a momentary lapse of melody, someone clears his throat, end scene." Squid's Ear
"The last recording by this pair was a bit too tilted toward the efi side of things for my taste; this one's far more up my alley, much more expansive, much wider spaces carved out, particularly on the first of the two tracks. Once again Noyes, on percussion, (in New Zealand) and Chabala on guitar (in somewhat more exotic New Jersey) created their parts independently, "blind and layered", by which I take it without either's awareness of the other's output? However achieved, "Yin (The Shade)" is pretty much seamless, a rich, imaginative piece, varied in dronage both percussive and guitar-based and also evincing a wide range of clatter. The second cut, "Yang (The Squint)", incorporates far more silence--I take it this was a guiding parameter in the trans-world exchange?--and, with the plucked and struck approach largely taken on the respective instruments, falls more readily in the efi mode, quite effectively so, though I'll be damned if I don't pick up traces of "Moonchild"..." Brian Olewnick
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