Reviews

BOX #28 - 28 September 2003 - Christine McCombe - Cleaning Lady - Jim Denley

Review by Rigel Sirus

Small Black Box pulled off another great combination of experimental electronic music on Sunday 28 September that ranged from the electroacoustic polish of Christine McCombe to the raw technical indeterminacy of Stephen Richards (aka Cleaning lady) and the woodwind virtuosity of Jim Denley. An almost capacity crowd turned out for the concert, in what is almost habitual packed attendance at SBB concerts.

First out of the block was Christine McCombe who presented two pieces of luscious electroacoustic music accompanied by subdued video. The first piece was contemplative and explored sounds and images of the waterfront. Its smooth and graduated progressions from calm moments to intense waves of sample polyphony was in the tradition of acousmatic French works, but mostly reminiscent of British interpretations of the same. McCombe's second piece was an exploration of the sonic variety of harpsichord and significantly treated samples of that instrument. This work started with timbres characteristic of string sounds, but obfuscated by the masking of their attack transients. It ebbed and flowed between luscious and dramatically noisy sections, exploring the range of periodic and noisy sounds of the harpsichord. The control over form and structure made this piece stand out from much of the meandering improvisation often heard in experimental concerts. The only blemish was the sometimes excessive use of untreated harpsichord performance samples that at time disrupted the otherworldly space created by the work.

Next on the menu was Stephen Richards (aka Cleaning lady) visiting from Melbourne, who treated us to a session of analogue noise and sample processing. Visually stimulating, Richard's performance employed a vast array of inexpensive gadgets which he manipulated with significant dexterity. The work was quite minimal on the whole, which varied between tedious and wonderful. His manipulation of electronic signal, a variety of prepared samples and delay and distortion processes had a distinctive style, however, the spatialisation treatment was hampered by unsympathetic jumps between speakers resulting from bus send switching. This performance was well received by the SBB audience, always partial to a noise improvisation.

The final, and much anticipated act was Jim Denley, performing signal processed flutes (alto, soprano and piccolo) and voice. If the audience were expecting sustained flute tones, they were in for a surprise as Denley proceeded with one of the most percussive woodwind performances you are likely to hear. The performance material consisted of key taps, noise bursts and vocal sounds in the main, all processed in real time though several instances of GRM Tools which provided long delays, shimmering phase shifts and the whole soundscape tastefully reverberated and spatialised. The piece provided sufficient variety through changes in instruments and vocal sound types, although the minimal processing was largely unchanged but switched in and out from time to time. The performance was highly polished but its minimalist textural shifts did tend to demand concerted effort from the audience at times.

The whole show was very ably compared by Scott Sinclair, who more than adequately filled the shoes in the absence of regular presenter Greg Jenkins, and the technical aspects of sound reinforcement were appropriately transparent to the audience. The SBB crew and performers are to be congratulated on another varied but rarely dull concert.