AMN Reviews: Olivia Block – Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea (2021; Room40); Natasha Barrett/Tanja Orning-Symbiosis (Bandcamp; 2002)
The title, as well as the artwork to Oliva Block’s latest album is…deceiving. The high-key photo of a sea faring vessel floating serenely on a calm, flat body of water with either a small Island (or maybe that’s a glacier) in the near distance immediately elicits thoughts of serenity and peacefulness. The music; well not so much.
Let’s look at this a different way. The vessel is icebound and stranded, held fast in the frigid cold grip of a sea transforming itself into a desolate ice field. A sun, slowly blotted out by humanities excesses’ refuses to provide its warm sustenance to a world rapidly descending towards frozen dark grey nothingness. My experience after several listening’s of Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea leans decidedly towards this door number two.
Obviously, pandemic influenced art is going to have its dark edges, often rooted in speculative fiction tropes. On this release…Block’s dark edges are drawn with one of those mondo, uber rank and putrid, king-sized black Sharpies. The composer states that during lockdown, much of her listening was done while on psychedelic mushrooms with the intention of achieving a maximum somatic awareness. What better way to achieve this then to key into the bass frequencies? You want to feel it in you body? Embrace the deeps! (Something that Natasha Barrett excels at, see below.)
It’s no wonder that the pieces on this album have a significant synthesized bass presence. What’s particularly notable is how this subterranean foundation contrasts with the higher end layers of sonic mayhem above it. Tracks like “Axiolite” and (especially) “Laika” positively scream in their intensity while later tracks smolder and burn in their own “end of days” mind movie sequence. Block lays impossibly thick blankets of sound/drone over this low-end bedrock leaving a berserker-like wasteland in its wake.
Is Innocent Passage in the Territorial Sea a red pill, force fed to the listener during these times? You’ll have to tell me. What I can say is that it’s one of the finest, albeit ill-boding pieces of modern sound art I’ve heard in awhile. My highest recommendation!
https://natashabarrett.bandcamp.com/...symbiosis-2002 (sorry, I couldn't get the BC link to embed itself)
Symbiosis was composed by Barrett back in 2002 and was originally released on Orning’s Cellotronics album in 2005. This version has updated electronics and is a terrific 18-minute portrait of Barrett’s use of current sound processing and spatialization technology along with Orning’s fiery cello playing. I’ve never heard the 2005 release so I can’t compare the two.
What I can say is Symbiosis is yet another extremely strong release from the Barrett camp. To think that she has since followed this up with a full-length album (Heterotopia, write-up coming) on the Persistence of Sound label has uplifted her output to the “embarrassment of riches” level.
Symbiosis, defined as a mutually beneficial interaction between two different organisms within proximity is an apt title on a couple of levels. Obviously, the cello/electronics fusing works beautifully here. Taken separately, Orning’s very dexterous and quite aggressive attack plays very nicely with Barrett’s own unique sound processing. If you are familiar with Barrett’s recent work (like the amazing Leap Seconds album, for example) you’ll find that many of her hallmark motifs make an appearance here. Subsonic thunder, ghostly voices at times insubstantial, barely corporeal at other times, relentless and driving waves of mechanical contraptions, veneer’s of eerily sustained mid-ranged drones, violent, gasp inducing crescendos of processed sounds…all essential parts and pieces are here, and they are all moved around the listening landscape compliments of her deft mixing. Barrett’s idea of spatialization, and her ability to create a breathtaking 3-D sonic space are in full bloom on this release.
So, the symbiotic act displayed here works flawlessly but, what about the result? The parts and process are one thing…the final creation is something else completely. Remember, symbiosis is MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL for both parties. Experiencing Symbiosis from a perspective of a single “new” entity (and maybe a new way of “hearing” it) is as much of a rewarding journey as breaking it down into its separate parts. For me, this meant hearing it a few times since it’s very hard NOT to hear (and marvel at, I might add) the individual inputs from Barrett and Orning. Unsurprisingly, the transformed work is more than its individual parts. In the case of Symbiosis, we are left with a stunning work that succeeds on an emotional, physical and imaginative level and receives a two strong thumbs-up recommendation.
Best
Michael
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). And I also still really love her contribution to the Longform Editions label: 
Originally Posted by battema
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