Poet and musician Robert Mitchell had only recently met improv artist and doyenne of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble Maggie Nicols and improvising soprano Alya al-Sultani before they suggested heading into the studio to free Robert’s words from the strictures of the page and watch them take flight against a rolling backdrop of cascading piano. Alya and Maggie had been working together for a while, so the idea of producing their own sonic interpretation of Robert’s poetry also with his input was too good to turn down.
So over ten carefully chosen pieces they run through all manner of vocal styles and manners, with a brief introduction allowing the listener an opportunity to hear their differing approaches, from spoken to shrieked and from a bubbling murmur to an intense hammering. You start to feel the energy and the “creeping fog of war” as the subjects elicit the necessary responses from the vocalists.
In places, the piano is a rolling, thunderous backdrop; a dramatic canvas for the voices to rise and fall, soar and dive as they search for new ways to interleave. At points, as on “Immersion 2”, the voices are briefly liberated from structure before relishing the words, forming crazy cackles and heartfelt confessions while the ever-unfolding piano’s romantic meandering provides something to which they can return. Robert’s voice when it appears is more measured, a reaction to the joy of the others as they grasp the words through a gauze of vocal treats. When they slow, the meaning is delivered with strength in an autumnal settling, while wildness and freedom echoes in the background. They inhabit different characters depending on the piece and there is even a soulful tinge to the delivery on “Let The Light In”, with the wintry piano drifting in and out of the endless unfolding of the voices, while the piano on “My World Is You” has a sparkling immediacy.The trio offers something fresh for each poem, with the random piano of “Present” offering plenty of space for the voices to inhabit and plenty of time for them to decide in which direction to go. There is something mysterious about the two very different vocal approaches and they each provide something the other does not, so there is a kind of three-dimensional element to the words; one a rushed murmur while to other soars, plucking a words like a bird in mid air.
By the time final piece “Where We Are” has arrived with its delightful and mysterious accompaniment, we have been taken on a journey of unparalleled proportions in which voices evoke so much more than may be expected. A must for any fans of vocal adventuring and poetic strength.-Mr Olivetti-
