CHERYL E. LEONARD & WOBBLY – MULTIPLE PARK (LP by Gilgongo Records)
Following her recent release with music and sounds recorded at the Antarctic, Cheryl E. Leonard now stays closer to home on a record with Wobbly. That is the name chosen by Jon Leidecker, who works as such since 1987, solo and working with People Like Us, and Matmos; since 2011 he’s a member of Negativland. He contributes “synthesized animal voices driven by machine listening”, whereas Leonard plays “electroacoustic instruments made out of natural materials such as bones, driftwood, shells, seaweed, feathers and stones”. Recordings were made indoor (at the ‘Over The Edge’ programm on KPFA) and outdoor, in various parks in California. Four long pieces are the result, and it’s an interesting bunch of compositions. First of all, the music is very ‘natural’. The rustling of leaves, branches mixes very well with the sound of water, morphing into electronic tones; or, vice versa, of course. The organic feel is present in all these pieces and those synthesized animals sound great, almost like real animals. This electronic aspect gives the music a musique concrète feeling, and while there is certainly a collage-like style approach here, it all flows organically, and not through some abrupt cut and paste technique. I know Wobbly likes his radio, and if anything, I saw the music here as examples of a radio program about animals, ficitional, real or vanished. The narrative, Atenborough-style, is the only thing missing from this documentary, but I believe that only makes it better. The music sometimes, oddly, sounds like real music, strange familiar to heavily processed saxophones. Multi-layered, so every time you play this record, there is something new to hear. Like the musicians are explorers of the landscape, urban and wild life, acoustic and electric, the listener can find new roads into the music. (FdW)
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