Geographers, The

Clive Bell & Sylvia Hallett – The Geographers (Emanem)
Intimate duo free improvisation on many, many different instruments. This CD covers a lot of ground, from prickley sparse percussion sounds to nice drones from a bicycle wheel and khene. I love the match of these two. Bell, in general does reed or pipe instruments and Hallett plays saws and bike wheels. These live acoustic sounds are often captured, looped and turned into drones and ambient backdrops. If Bicycle wheel, saw, whirling bat drum, sarangi, Cretan pipes, stereo goat horns and a handful of other instruments interests you give this a listen.
1. Sounds a bit like what I imagined by the title, “Shrugged into spring”. It sounds like a handful of small animals, waking up and wandering into spring time. Placing the sounds is difficult. Is that the shakuhachi making the horn-like sound? The percussion comes in short bursts. Patient with long drawn out sounds from viola and a few other instruments that progressively gets busier.
2. Sparse duo of shakuhachi and sarangi. Patient and meditative.
3. Slightly discordant (bicycle wheel) and khene have a nice patient conversation bordering on drone.
4. Minimal sound, drawn out notes. Viola shows up for the last couple minutes mostly solo.
**5. Percussion and violin.
**6. Very quiet for the first minute or so and then the something starts sounding like a cow mooing and the violin scrapes away. Then some instrument sounds like an animal, like the last track. More obvious loops as the track gets dense.
7. Quiet shakuhachi and violin with the violin often being plucked.
8. I can’t place the percussive bell-like sounds is that the mbira…oh I think it is.
9. Distant discordant sounds that fluctuate in volume multiple times.
10. Includes some voice and field recordings. Vocals are mostly acapella.
Good stuff. -mph