Barnyard Drama at Souni Per Il Popolo
Montreal's Suoni Per Il Popolo is a month-long festival of free-jazz, improv, psyche, noise, electronic and more. Left Hip writer Solomiya Moroz caught Toronto free-improv group Barnyard Drama during the 2008 festival....
The night of musique actuelle/improvised music at Sala Rossa was off to a good start with Montreal’s improvisers and a special guest from Toronto Barnyard Drama. The beginning started with ambient sounds of turntables and oscillating acoustic guitar feed, featuring the invited improviser from Norway Kim Myhr. The instruments matched this ambient ensemble well, comprised also of Pierre Yves Martel on viola de gamba and Philip Lauzier on saxophone/bass clarinet. All of the players were amplified in one way or another. Starting with turntables (Martin Tetreaut), oscillating sound motor and sound box on guitar, slightly amplified viola de gamba and a microphone used at times by Philipe Lauzier on saxophone and bass clarinet. The sounds were very light at times reminiscent of contemporary music composers like Sciarrino, this effect could be contributed by oscillating multiphonics on saxophone and light scratchy viola de gamba sounds as well as barely struck guitar chords played mostly for sound effects. Sometimes the music would get active and transform into refined moments of rupture.
The second act of the night, All up in There (Gordon Allen on trumpet, Michel F. Cote, drums and Frank Martel on Theremin) were also interesting and different in their own way. All of the sounds had something of a stretchy sound quality to it. The trumpet and Theremin have a similar sound quality especially when played by Gordon Allen, who barely ever makes the trumpet sound like a traditional instrument. All three instrumentalists had a transforming quality to their music. Michel F. Cote while starting with a funky/jazzy groove on a muted drum set eventually revealed his drum set from underneath a blanket and at the end of the improvisation used live hand microphone sensors to send feed through a mini speaker and a microphone, playing almost in the same timbre and range as the trumpet. It gave the group a cartoon-like characteristic, especially because the Theremin player moved in all directions imitating mostly a double bass, or just searching for his proper sounds, while the drummer was reaching up and around his set and microphones.
Barnyard Drama was the header of the night also the rocker and agitator of the night transporting us to rock, metal, delightfully insane and chaotically absurd spheres of music consciousness. All of this was beautifully wrapped in a façade of music actuelle mainly contributed by Christine Duncan’s vocals and electronic soundscapes but also carried through by the ever-attentive guitarists Bernard Falaise and Justin Haynes. Their set started calmly gradually emerging from low/soft electronics and bass with light throat singing from the vocalist, spilling out into other vocal forms, sometimes even sounds reminiscent of yodeling. But with time the rock groove took over and all of the sounds, including muted vocal imitations and guitar pedal effects were agitating this gradual drama created by a steady rock beat on the drums. Christine’s vocal ability to imitate the most absurd and on the fringe of existence sounds is really one of the rare qualities of this group. It could transport the listener out of the rock/grunge mood of the band into the most vivid movie scenes. She could make her voice sound like an old record player transmitting choral lines of Soviet or Chinese propaganda songs. Sometimes the voice would be treated with live electronic processes of reverbs and loops. The double guitar effect of the group is not at all redundant when you have two really versatile players, amplified by speakers, pedal effects and drumming sticks. With all this said, it is evident the group likes to rock out. The drummer does light electronic processing as well as providing heaviness on all parts of his drums (rims, sides, cymbals and toms) this with double guitar effect of very active players adds to the volume and rock heaviness almost on verge of sounding like a sophisticated metal band at times.
http://www.barnyardrecords.com/bio%20Barn.html
