CATALOG

TIM FEENEY/VIC RAWLINGS: In Six Parts

sedcd050 | Released in 2007 | Ltd Edition 500 copies | $10 In Six Parts

Vic Rawlings is as careful and focused as any musician/improviser working today. Over the years he has honed his prepared cello and electronic, open circuit ‘device’ performances down to sparse, tight, violent little assaults. His many collaborative projects run long and deep in Boston (undr quartet, the bsc) and beyond (NRA, MAWJA) and this (relatively) recent partnership with the youngster Tim Feeney has produced immediate and excellent results as well. This release also finally gets Rawlings properly into the Sedimental roster, something that is long overdue. So what do we have here? Feeney, a percussionist, is less a foil than a multiplier of the Rawlings aesthetic. The first five parts are static, lean, and pinpointed explorations of high pitches, specific gestures of scrapes and buzzes. Cold, but organic. Sparse, but rich. Feeney does provide a modicum of warmth as heard on Part Six, the final section of the disc, which acts an emotional counterweight to the previous five. A rhythm emerges, slowly unfolding, repeating, a know-able signpost amid the desolation, a way out, but not exactly towards home.

some press clips:

“Hell, it almost sounds ‘heroic’ at some points as the sustained high pitches acquire a semi-tonal character and play off the deep, cello growls, providing an especially delicious counterpoint. A very satisfying, well-conceived album from two musicians not heard often enough.”-Brian Olewnick in BAGATELLEN

“Despite its refusal to make any concession to the listener, the music draws you and doesn’t let you go.”-Dan Warbuton in the December WIRE