Colin Stetson - A Dream Of Water (2011) [unofficial fan video]

Artist: Colin Stetson
Title: New History Warfare Vol 2 Judges
Release date: 02/22/11
Record label: Constellation

01. Awake On Foreign Shores
02. Judges
03. The Stars In His Head (Dark Lights remix)
04. All The Days I've Missed You (ILAIJ I)
05. From No Part Of Me Could I Summon A Voice
06. A Dream Of Water
07. Home
08. Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes
09. Clothed In The Skin Of The Dead
10. All The Colors Bleached To White (ILAIJ II)
11. Red Horse (Judges II)
12. The Righteous Wrath Of An Honorable Man
13. Fear Of The Unknown And The Blazing Sun
14. In Love And In Justice

New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges was recorded entirely live in the studio at Montréal's Hotel2Tango, with no overdubs or looping pedals, using over 20 mics positioned close and far throughout the live room. Guest vocals by Laurie Anderson and Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) are the only exceptions to this rule, along with one brief french horn suite ("All The Days I've Missed You") that was multi-tracked by Colin.

Stetson is able to weave an uninterrupted flow of arpeggiated swirls and chordal progressions while simultaneously singing yearning melodic lines through the reed of his horn - a technically powerful combination, exponentially intensified by Colin's innate sense of pace, phrasing and trajectory. Stetson approaches his solo work with one foot firmly rooted in a pop sensibility, harmonically and in terms of overall song structure - a sensibility on fine display in longer pieces like "Judges", "The Stars In His Head (Dark Lights Remix)" , "Clothed In The Skin Of The Dead" and "Fear Of The Unknown And The Blazing Sun". He can paint short, ecstatic spirals of rapid-fire ostinati that move through the entire range of the instrument, full of subtle rhythmic shifts and filigree, as with "The Righteous Wrath Of An Honourable Man", "From No Part Of Me Could I Summon A Voice" and "A Dream Of Water", all of which clock in at the 2-3 minute range (and the last of which features a spoken word vocal by Laurie Anderson). Colin can also shred, especially when rallying the full force of the bass saxophone, whether in the foghorn blasts that open the album or the gasping syncopated pulse of "Red Horse (Judges II)". The seamless, steamy, multi-timbral drone that underpins Shara Worden's guest vocal on "Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes" demonstrates another side of Colin's mastery and sensibility.

The sessions were co-produced by Stetson and Shahzad Ismaily and engineered by Efrim Menuck at the Hotel2Tango, then taken to Greenhouse Studios in Reykjavik and mixed by Ben Frost, the critically acclaimed experimental electronic/ambient composer and producer whose shared influences of minimalism, noise and black metal made him the perfect choice for a bold and unconventional approach to the raw material. Frost pushes and pans different mic signals to the fore from song to song (and within songs), eliciting a cornucopia of details and extremes in Colin's playing and highlighting the complexity of sounds generated by a single horn in Stetson's hands. Rhythms are formed by clicking keys, minute textures are brought forward by running ambient mics extremely hot, and low end is at times pushed fully into the red to devastating effect. Mastering by Mell Dettmer provides the final touch.

The result is a highly original, experimental and thrilling record that fires on all levels: as a document of an astoundingly strong and gifted player, as a compositional tour-de-force, and as a studio production bursting with intensity and inventiveness: a challenging work that resists classification but remains accessible to music lovers of many stripes.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Experimental
• Jazz
• Nu
• Canada
• Modern

[ignoranttwat]

Where's the footage from?

[TheXinsert]

@ignoranttwat

Jean-Luc Godard's "Film socialisme" 

[ignoranttwat]

@TheXinsert

(smiles with self satisfaction) Yeah, I thought so. I've not seen it yet, but I sort of recognised it from the trailer. Is it any good?

[TheXinsert]

@ignoranttwat

only used the first of the three movements, "Des choses comme ça" ("Such things") featuring multi-lingual conversations, i wont say its good or bad its more like a "mind opener" if you identify yourself as part of a multicultural world in which art is the only universal language that can break barriers

[jomapohe]

the needle drop brought me here

[GeistWerk]

reminds me of koyaanisqatsi. beautiful

[DrSpikeSpiegel]

Best cruise ship commercial ever.

[demon32]

Thank you for this great video ... I saw "Film Socialisme" twice and I am a huge fan of Godard ... I believe that your choice of putting together the apocalyptic sound of Stetson with the images of Godard is brillant. I believe Film Socialisme is both a burial and a potential renewal of occidental democracy and civilization

[ript4life]

@TheXinsert Math breaks barriers and redefines knowledge-of-possibility all the time! It's its own kind of art. Love this combination of image and sound too btw. excellent work.

[Alianger]

@AllRiseForDrEvil or Michael Jackson

[prokoscho]

This collusion of genius made my goddam head explode.

[agoldenroad]

the shape of jazz that has come

[SethGoTribe]

So. Oddly. Powerful.

[farfle10]

this is so amazing but it's hard to pin down why

[medalf]

@TheXinsert mathematics, but you can see math like an art.

[kerrkr12]

Somehow I knew Laurie Anderson would be involved in this.