Seth Nehil & John Grzinich – Confluence

[ this review also deals with “Stria” ]

These two cd?s were released and intended to accompany each other, one on the Belgian Erewhon label, and one on the American Intransitive label. Both cd?s contain 3 long tracks. The presented tracks reflect a collaboration between Seth Nehil and John Grzinich, who are perhaps better known as the group Alial Straa. The collaboration uses recordings of found objects, which were played by large groups of people, and which were manipulated in the studio afterwards. This gives both cd?s a very ?concrete? atmosphere. The sounds are best described as huge drones, or vibrations which form very long and evolving pieces. This makes the music very organic and natural.

A lot of concrete artists feel the need to be very wild and expressive in their use of sound. Seth Nehil and John Grzinich use a more meditative and static approach. The sounds just keep flowing on and on, and changes occur very subtly. This does not mean the tracks are uninteresting in any way, actually it makes the tracks very exciting and nice to listen to. Somehow, because of it?s slow evolution, the tracks are really intense and beautiful.

Overall two very nicely done works, which come highly recommended if you like subtle ?natural? drone music like Francisco Lopez, Hazard, Small Cruel Party, or Toy Bizarre.

artist: Seth Nehil & John Grzinich
label: Intransitive Recordings
details: (into22)