Fingering An Idea, by David Watson (CD on Xi)

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This record left our Ant feeling ecstatic.

This review was written at home in my little den...... Ahhhh! The child is safely tucked up in bed and I'm sipping a glass of wine listening to the latest emissions from New Zealand native and Braille records founder David Watson. This guy has previously recorded for Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label and the John Zorn affiliated Avant imprint. 'Fingering An Idea' is a 2CD set on Phil Niblock's Xi Records. Here is a man at the absolute cutting edge of, wait for it... Highland bagpipes. His pioneering work with the traditional Scottish instrument will appeal to both fans of academic / avant garde experimentalism as well as sonic explorers of noise / drone who could also get a buzz from this. His approach to the instrument is completely unconventional, highly original and relentlessly inventive. It creates an almost meditative atmosphere that resonates around your skull and transports you into tartan space. Track 4 has a consistent drone sound whilst layers of bagpipes weave a magical state of sonic bliss. Long, drawn out, hypnotic bagpipe tones, which are perfect to immerse yourself in for late night headphone listening. A real joy to these ears (perhaps it connects with my Scottish heritage?) and highly recommended. It's a genuine thrill to listen to something so unique both in its ideas and delivery. The second disc is music for acoustic and electric guitars which I shall be checking out this weekend. Marvelous stuff.

What the label says about Fingering An Idea, by David Watson:

Disc 1: Dexter
Music for highland bagpipe
Highland Bagpipes: David Watson, Matthew Welch, Michael Mahoney, Brendan
O'Rourke, Rob Brazius, Richard Baughman

Disc 2: Sinister
Music for acoustic and electric guitars
David Watson, acoustic & electric guitars

2 cds for the price of 1
UPC:  725531073223

I first heard David Watson some 25 or more years ago at a small festival in
Tasmania. Exotic location ­ and so was the music. I was astonished by a
highly developed bowed guitar technique ­ up there with one of my favourite
bowed guitar exponents, Davey Williams of Alabama. The Watson concert
demonstrated a concentration and fascination with long tones and tuning.
Fast forward on some years, and I heard the same guitarist playing in
downtown New York, where he had decamped, playing in an improvised guitar
style very much indicative of the place and its cultural environment. That¹s
not a negative assessment, just noticing a change of aesthetic values.
    Then at the end of the 1990s, we met again in Berlin. David was there
primarily to play in the Exiles Festival. And yes he had brought his guitar
and ehŠ yes also his bagpipes. Somehow the haptic feedback of these two
instruments seemed so far removed from one another, I couldn¹t imagine how
they ended up in the same pair of hands; the physiological processes are so
different for each instrument.
    Then there is this recording. Although the forward velocity is
purposefully restricted, there is plenty of tonal development ­ it¹s just
that it jumps straight over the equal tempered system and into other notions
of tuning and scale ­ notably and happily unavoidably the harmonic series
remains central to this organization of tones. Something akin to clanging
church bells from hell ­the overtones inherent in the basic chords being
heavily accentuated. Odd things happen on Judgment Day, as you would expect
from a player as opposed to a composer; unexpected clonks, squeaks, clicks,
scrapes, adjustments are continually being addressed to the sonic states of
each tuning regime.
    Meanwhile back at bagpipe central, the bag is being squeezed
mercilessly. Simple integer intervals of 5/4 and 6/5 (major and minor
thirds) are being messed with as the listener is lead to Mecca but never
quite allowed to enter the gates. The 3/2 interval and bastion of western
music also wobbles under the wheezing strain. Disciples of Just Intonation
should probably avoid this album. -Jon Rose (from the liner notes)

Fingering an Idea (a phrase pulled from a Chris Mann piece) resulted from a
Phill Niblock invitation to make a double CD for bagpipe and guitar. A
bagpipe CD is a particular challenge. A high beam spatial explorer, it is
the kind of unstable phenomena that is hard to enjoyably reproduce on your
stereo player. The first pipe recording session was an ensemble piece, the
score including walks around the concert hall. The second, a solo
multi-track session. The third with Rob Ramirez, recorded material was
played back in the concert hall through an eight-channel MSP patch. A
carnival of colliding pans, exits and entrances, re-recorded for stereo.
    For "Sinister", an old cassette recorded at Amica Bunker was the
original germ. A sequence of re-tuning and de-stringing, starting with six
strings pitched across a whole-tone and ending with an improvisation on one
string. This old piece was dusted off and reworked through an image of
bell-ringing, another outdoors vernacular. - David Wa

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