R52 – Reidemeister Move – “Arcanum 17” CD & Pamphlet

  1. Arcanum 17 – 42:01

A sound novella recorded in 2012 in remote Eastern Quebec.  Reidemeister Move is Christopher Williams, a composer and contrabass player who worked with Ben Patterson (amongst an army of other mentors), and Robin Hayward, a microtonal tubist and composer who has performed music written for him by Christian Wolff and Alvin Lucier.  Arcanum 17, based on the André Breton novel of the same name, was co-written by Williams and Charlie Morrow (you may recall that Recital published Morrow’s fabulous Toot! Too LP last year.)

Charlie introduced me to Christopher Williams in late-2016 (introducing is one of Charlie’s specialities).  Once I discovered Christopher’s association with Fluxus composers and Malcolm Goldstein, I figured our conversations would go late into the night.  We did not talk, though.  And our first meeting consisted of Christopher sitting me down to play a piece of his music.  I was initially turned off by the situation… such a bold gesture from a relative stranger (a bottle of wine and banter would normally be on the menu for such an occasion).  We turned the lights to a dim glow in my living room and played the CD for me all the way through: 45 minutes of hyper-silent listening.  I sank into the experience with comfort and ease with the first wash of water from the speakers.

Arcanum 17 is paced perfectly: field recordings, whispered narration, and cloudy bass and tuba streams fall in and out of frame with cinematic grace.  A transportive phenomenon of an album, sonically echoes Williams’ description of the Breton novel: “A thick, existential little book, a reckoning of and with everything that brings him here: Canadian wildlife, the morning star, the myth of Melusina, feminism, the French education system, the ecstasy of newfound love. His alchemical blurring of prose and poetry, dream and waking states, natural and psychological landscapes, and past, present and future, brings these topics inimitably together. Always on the cusp of development but never quite.”

I now am grateful for the serious listening lesson that Christopher sat me down for: both because the sound piece was beautiful, and as a reminder to treat your art with respect and to not slight the weight of your passions.         – Sean McCann, October 2018

  • First Edition of 200
  • 9″ x 6″ 20-page color pamphlet with photos and program notes
  • Glass-mastered CD

ORDER  –  HERE

Price: $14.95
Released on November 9th, 2018


“MAKING OF” VIDEOS


PHOTOGRAPHS

by Mike Harrison


CREDITS & PRODUCTION

Composed by Christopher Williams and Charlie Morrow
after texts by André Breton

Performers

Reidemeister Move:
Robin Hayward – microtonal tuba
Christopher Williams – contrabass

Charlie Morrow – voice (English) and conch shells
Maija-Leena Remes – voice (French) and French-English translations

Technicians

Bernd Friebel – recording engineer for Deutschlandfunk Kultur
Tyler Clausen – sound engineer for CMP, field recordings, 3D sound designer
Mike Harrison – assistant sound engineer for CMP, field recordings, videographer
Jeff Aaron Bryant – software programmer

Production and Publishing

Produced by Charles Morrow Productions LLC and Deutschlandfunk Kultur
Published and co-produced by Other Media (c)(p) Other Media (ASCAP)
Thank you to Nutaaq Media, Inc. for their generous support

CD Edition

Produced and mastered by Sean McCann
R.M. photograph Copyright Holly M. Gilbert (2016)
Photography by Mike Harrison
Recital, Los Angeles, California

 


Press

LA TIMES
USTHEATER

(if you would like a presskit, contact seantristanmccann (@) gmail.com)