Neither/Nor Records
Earth Tongues, Atem (n/n 013)
Atem, the third release on Neither/Nor Records by the New York-based trio Earth Tongues, represents a new phase in the ensemble's development of improvised forms. Developed and recorded at a group residency at Brooklyn's Pioneer Works, the album is the group's most confrontational and focused to date, combining a magnified universe of subtle textures and tones with shifting layers delivered in a dense, breathing mass. Atem presents Earth Tongues' group dynamic of impromptu composition in a form that both beckons and overwhelms.
Personnel:
Joe Moffett - trumpet, objects
Dan Peck - tuba, cassette player, objects
Carlo Costa - percussion
Recorded by Justin Frye at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY on August 8th , 2017. Mixed and mastered by Nathaniel Morgan. All music by Earth Tongues. Photograph by Joe Moffett. Design by Carlo Costa.
Release date: October 31, 2019
Reviews
“In combination, Earth Tongues produces a shifting, rough-edged soundscape flush with details and character. Their use of space is intriguing – they fill it, but do so with quiet and distorted passages that never quite leap out at you. Instead, Atem consists of a rich set of structures that slowly evolve throughout the course of the piece. Well done.” (December 7, 2019)
“The result is an almost organic sonic experience. It is the bubbling organic mass that once produced life, the scraping of tectonic plates, the rumbling sounds that create geisers deep under the earth's crust, the sound of wind against rocks, the sound of leaves of grass rubbing against each other, of small creatures in the undergrowth, of deep moaning sounds of other animals, the chirping of ciccadas. No matter. It lives. Complexity emerges from simple things, and it gets a life of its own, something deeply organic. Something out of thin air. The trio create life out of sound.” (February 14, 2020)
“そして本盤『Atem』（2017年録音）はさらに変貌を遂げ、気配が強化されている。ミクロな揺らぎが人の背丈にまで増幅され、音のマチエールが可視化（可聴化）され、もとより人の背丈で存在した音とは別次元の音世界を創り上げていることが特徴的だ。トランペットがミクロからマクロへの連続的な橋渡しを行い、チューバとパーカッションがその過程にあるざわめきや泡立ちを表現する。それにより音のレイヤーが創られるのだが、レイヤーは柔軟に形を変え、なんども語りなおされる” (February 29, 2020)