Coppice — Preamble to Newly Cemented Dedication to Freddom
Coppice
has long fascinated me. Their work is typically polished without
sounding stuffy or aloof and subtly complex without indulgence or
excess. So it is obviously with some interest that I approach what can
be characterized as the duo’s mid-career pivot. Preamble to Newly
Cemented Dedication to Freedom is, in addition to being a mouthful, a
self-declared departure from their previous work. From their music, to
their website, to their performances and promotional material – Coppice
is making it clear that they are not merely changing instrumentation or
aesthetics but overhauling their praxis. This album (and ostensibly
their forthcoming material) is even afforded its own section on their
site, titled New Foundation, distinct from their preceding output – a
navigational separation representing the conceptual differences. While
this small release certainly covers new ground, fortunately for the
listener it still sounds distinctly like Coppice.
This transition has been a long time coming. Although releasing several
works using their traditional bellows and electronics throughout 2016,
Noé Cueller and Joseph Kramer have explored new compositional methods
during their live performances at least since 2015. The music
comprising the release itself dates back to October of last year, when
it was first posted to YouTube. Changes to their online presence
occurred over December and the 3″ CDr was released on Aposiopèse soon
after. My rather late appraisal of this all is partly to allow some
dust to settle, partly to take some time with the music, and partly
because of procrastination – tackling a Coppice release has always felt
a bit intimidating.
To the music then. The opening synthesizer lines on
‘Induction and Bifurcation’ hold a degree of melody rarely seen in
Coppice’s library. Sections of Compound Form and Big Wad Excisions both
have longer harmonic passages, but there the notes offer a degree of
catharsis after longer sections of atonality and noise, particularly in
the latter case. Here, the notes are abrupt and repeated in varying
patterns. This gives them an evocative and anthemic air, challenging
the listener instead of offering respite. The jittery static and bass
delays further make for a restless listen. Being Canadian, I would be
remiss if I didn’t quote Glenn Gould on the choice of key here: “[F
minor is] rather dour, halfway between complex and stable, between
upright and lascivious, between gray and highly tinted…There is a
certain obliqueness.”
Coppice is no stranger to extended technique, or allowing incidental
sound to seep into their music. Their use of bellows is a classic
example, where the wheezing and clacking of the device itself
contributed as much to the result as the tones it generated
(Holes-Tract is full of examples of this). However, across Preamble… we
have an entirely different facture. There are numerous instances of the
obvious (shameless?) use of delay lines and abrupt changes in
oscillation speed, lending a much more hands-on feel to the sound –
explaining the trick as they perform it, so to speak. Coppice’s music
has always sounded purposeful, but the techniques in use here are more
pointed and acute than previous works. My first impression is of an
approach to that sparsely populated middle ground between contemporary
electronic (dance or otherwise) and experimental practices. On the one
hand, labels like The Triology Tapes are working towards that space in
reverse, often with dismal results. On the other hand are artists
working towards a similar goal but coming from more esoteric practices
– labels like Entr’acte and even artists like Lorenzo Senni are
noteworthy in their success on that front.
Part of the reason such overt machinations work here without sounding
clunky or cloying is that Coppice are still very exacting in their
practice. Preamble… is rife with small details, such as the opening 6
seconds of silence on ‘Induction and Bifurcation’ (accompanied in the
video with 6 seconds of black before the image appears) which leads the
listener to a double-take, even after repeated listens. Or the barely
audible voice (with a British accent?) that appears for the first 28
seconds of ‘Sucked In’, possibly marking the first use of vocals in
their discography. Another reason this more acute approach works for
them is their continued attention to texture. While flirting with the
structural forms of electronic music, beat science and even IDM, these
are not tracks produced in Ableton. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great
program for what it does. Furthermore, lowering the barrier to entry
for artistic production is key to increasing the representation of
diverse voices in art and music and reducing their reliance on market
forces. However, the auditory monolith of factory presets and 4/4 time
adds a great deal of noise to the signal. Fortunately, Coppice are
eminently careful in their selection of sound sources, as evident on
the second track.
‘Flut (Tighter)’ might be the first recognizable use
of what the artists describe as “Impossible Objects & Binary
Clocks”. While I won’t hypothesize on what exactly those are (I suspect
they are not referring to actual binary clocks, but who knows), there
are distinctly acoustic timbres to most elements of the piece and
occasional artifacts of analogue recording. Reading the reference to
clocks I instantly thought of Ryu Hankil‘s clockworks and, by
extension, Taku Unami’s work with small computer controlled robotics.
Neither is an inaccurate comparison to the acoustic dynamics of ‘Flut
(Tighter)’, but whereas those artists are almost puritanical in their
compositional approach, this piece plays out with some flourish. The
ticking throughout regularly breaks into short distorted bursts and
counts out time between reedy wheezes and electronic bass kicks. The
real fun is in the tension between the atonal clicks, bursts, and
thumps, and the near playfulness of their execution. The gravitas of
its mechanical structure, march-like, is betrayed by the bubbling
synthetic warbles that frequently appear – dynamics I tend to equate
with humour and mundanity. (The latter intended without negative
connotation and in the sense of chaotic earthliness and as opposed to
the sense of divine order that Birju Maharaj refers to when he says
that ‘any rhythm is god’.)
I’ve read some reviews and comments that mark Preamble… as a departure
from the ‘drones’ of Coppice-past. While this release is somewhat
uniquely structured and rhythmic, numerous other titles share many of
its characteristics, as described above. With hindsight, I can agree
that parts of their output resemble drone, though I’ve not once thought
of applying the term to their music. Perhaps I’ve been so wrapped up in
their attention to detail that I’ve continually lost the forest for the
trees. Whatever the case, I would say that argument presupposes that
drones are explorations of texture whereas this album focuses on
rhythm. However, Coppice has been examining the spatial and temporal
characteristics of texture and rhythm since Vinculum in 2010. The
Pleasance & The Purchase is a particularly good example of this;
indeed, most of Senufo’s discography is. There, dense crackling fields
(or a drone, even if atonal) and periodic squeaks of the bellows (a
rhythm) frequently interact through rising and falling amplitude to
produce complex miniature beat patterns – the resulting tension pulls
both the sound and our linguistic understanding of each towards the
other. This tidily portrays why often only the density of a given sound
set will account for whether the listener perceives it as rhythmic or
percussive instead of textured. Once the periodicity of sound is
perceived as dense and moderated enough to square with our concept of
texture, rhythmic music suddenly becomes drone – a binary imposed on
what is more properly a spectrum.
Where I do see Preamble… departing from previous work by the duo is in
how those tensions within the periodicity of sound are arrived at.
While the various iterations of Vinculum all explored additive and
subtractive synthesis, whereby patterns and nodes of interest emerge
from the layering of similar or disparate tracks, this album instead
focuses on using its rhythmic elements to trigger complementary or
dissonant sound events. Obviously this isn’t revolutionary –
verse/chorus songs structures and beat drops in dance music are
triggered by their relation to time signature and BPM. Instead, what’s
interesting is the confluence here of musical idioms from popular music
and the avant-garde. Recognizable techniques and structures are jammed
up with indecipherable sounds and feedback generated patterns. These
are also traits found free jazz and generative music. In the best
examples of both, the stochastic use of sound always exists within the
gravitational field of some concept – a melodic, harmelodic or modal
theme in the case of the former, and a defined set of variables in the
algorithm of the latter. Preamble… is neither jazz nor generative, but
those parallels are present across its works. The opening and closing
tracks are not dissimilar in rhythmic structure from René Bertholo’s
analogue feedback loops, while ‘Flut (Tighter)’ could nearly be a demo
track from Mark Fell. The theme that opens the aptly titled ‘Induction
and Bifurcation’ is shifted in key, broken into its constituent parts
and then revisited.
As for Preamble… as a whole, it is best approached
by the listener as just that – a preamble to something larger.
Thematically, the small album is cohesive enough, and the three tracks
work together with similar aesthetic palettes. However, the strongly
emotional opening chords lend the first track an energy that sizzles
out by the last one. The transition from a dense melodically flush
‘song’ to successive downtempo squelchy beat experiments leaves a
pessimistic mood behind, though this may be purposeful (more on that in
a moment). While I thoroughly enjoy each individual track, I am left
looking for the other half of the album and as powerful a closing piece
as the opener. Perhaps it is best likened to an EP after all – 1
banger, 1 tool, 1 ballad, respectively.
Relatedly, I wonder what sort of constraints are imposed on the art by
consumption of this media through a traditional album release. It seems
that Preamble… grew through or out of various stages of live
performance; the artists themselves state that it is “in preparation
for virtual worlds in real spaces.” The listener may wonder what is
lost by simply throwing these files or CD on your device for later
listening in headphones. Soft Crown Transparencies, an interactive
piece of music software designed by Coppice, although unique in their
oeuvre also lends evidence of their overarching interest in creating,
or at least facilitating, environments in which sound is necessary but
not sufficient. We’ll have to wait and see where they end up, but there
are obvious deficiencies to documenting such comprehensive works –
listening to a recording of one of Mario Bertoncini’s aeolian harps or
Harry Bertoia’s sound sculptures is a poor facsimile to bearing witness
in person. That said, it may well be that the portability and fecundity
of the Soft Crown Transparencies experience remains a significant
concern for the artists in their upcoming work.
Lastly, I can’t help but comment on the language in use here because
Coppice have always taken a lot of care with it themselves. The
succinct titles of their early releases (eg. ‘Agate’, ‘Bluing’) have
slowly given way to almost brutalist descriptions seemingly lifted from
technical publications (eg. ‘Subparallel Episode’, or ‘Coincidence
Departure – Quadrangle Congruent with “III. Phases” – Opening of First
“II. Pivot”’), and to poetic titles verging on the satirical (‘So Lobes
Drape as Such Gills Over a Hanger’s Pit’, or say Preamble to Newly
Cemented Dedication to Freedom). Read that last one out loud – it could
just as easily be the byline of some Orwellian bill that promises to do
exactly the opposite (USA FREEDOM Act, anyone?). In a similar vein,
promotional material states the album is “sensual music for a folding
world in which songs are directions to look.” I would never infer
statements on Politics from their music, but I do think their recent
playfulness with semiotics is… timely. That said, the album title has
the fucking f-word in it, so maybe I should be making those inferences
after all.
Preamble… is not a radical departure for Coppice, but it is certainly a
welcomed development. The duo’s ability to refine their practice is
already well-established and our readers and listeners should seek out
Preamble to Newly Cemented Dedication to Freedom to hear how Coppice is
now looking to expand it.
Vehscle /
Soundscape radio
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PRESS
The
duo of Joseph Kramer and Noé Cuellar, working together under the banner
of Coppice, have surprised me with their music quite a bit by now (see
Vital Weekly 1007, 991, 921 and 892 for instance) and continue to do so
with this new, albeit, short release.
Here
we have only three pieces of music, and together that's just eighteen
minutes. We learn from the label's Bandcamp site that these are "Games
of Impossible Objects & Binary Clocks in preparation for virtual
worlds in real spaces. Physical modelling synthesis, modular
synthesizers, and custom built devices", so safe to say that the first
line of that I didn't understand. The music Coppice plays holds
somewhere in between drone and improvisation, but in these three new
pieces there is a certain shift noticeable. Whereas in the old days the
emphasis was perhaps towards drones from pump organs, processed in
real-time, delivering a finely woven electro -acoustic version of drone
music. I am not sure if pump organs are still something they use, but
there is a distinct progress to be noted in these three pieces. In all
three there is some form of rhythm to be noted; not something to dance
too, but something to hold on to.
Also
these pieces are shorter, between four and six minutes, and have a song
like structure, as opposed to the somewhat meandering pieces of before.
In each of three pieces there are recurring elements, built-ups,
bridges and above all rhythmical elements that make this more like
regular music; I could see them at a point in the future move on
towards dance music, and them doing a record of pieces like this. In an
odd way I was reminded of dub music by some of this, especially in
'Flut (Tighter)' and 'Sucked In', but then of a much more abstract
nature.
An absolute surprise this new Coppice, an
excellent move towards a new sound, and I wonder what
the future will bring.
Vital Weekly
Coppice's
Preamble to Newly Cemented Dedication to Freedom is another very good
release. Here are Joseph Kramer & Noé Cuellar as Coppice. This
stands out as a very smart configuration of sounds involving subtle
hints at rhythm but more than that assembling extremely interesting
noises in the grand acousmatic/electroacoustic tradtion (without sight
of an acoustic instrument) yet totally revelling in the spatial
possibilities of, as they put it: 'physical modeling synthesis, modular
synthesizers, and custom built devices' - amen to that. I'm deeply
impressed! Have a listen...
Include me out
Coppice : Joseph Kramer & Noé Cuellar. Un duo de
Chicago réellement captivant qui explore instruments à vents
(soufflerie, accordéon, orgue, harmonium, harmonica…) et électroniques
fabriquées. Dans ce mini-CDR, ils se consacrent plus à la fabrication
d’objets modelés par la synthése. Objets autant mélodique qu’abstraits
pour une véritable sculpture électronique ! 100 copies.
Métamkine
COPPICE - Preamble to Newly Cemented Dedication to Freedom
(mini CD, Aposiopèse, 2016)
Dès les premiers sons de ce nouveau disque du duo
Coppice, on pense aux étranges synthèses de Rashad Becker, avant de
plonger dans des modules électroniques proches d'un dub à la
Hey-O-Hansen, voire dans les installations recyclées de Matmos. Oui ça
fait beaucoup de comparaisons dès les premières lignes, mais les trois
morceaux présentés sur ce nouveau mini disque changent vraiment des
précédents Coppice.
Pas de vieux orgues recyclés, ni de ghetto blaster et de cassettes,
juste des synthés modulaires et quelques objets sont utilisés sur
Preamble to Newly Cemented Dedication to Freedom. Noé Cuéllar et Jospeh
Kramer produisent ici une "musique sensuelle" faite de boucles
mélodiques filtrées et de beats légers et métalliques. Ils choisissent
une nouvelle direction, ou plusieurs directions, plus douce, plus
électronique. Une direction qui paraît plus facile d'accès, de par ses
mélodies lentes et décalées, avec ses rythmiques claires et
électroniques, mais qui reste toujours aussi créative et unique.
Coppice n'essaye pas de faire de la musique électronique "facile", ils
continuent de défricher des territoires sonores jamais explorés, de
créer une musique personnelle et forte, de proposer quelque chose
d'inouï et d'unique en somme. C'est peut-être court, très court, et ça
peut paraître facile, ou léger, mais ce disque n'en reste pas moins un
disque qui se reconnaît entre mille, un disque créatif et puissant fait
de trois propositions fortes et nouvelles.
Improv-sphere
Coppice's Preamble to Newly Cemented Dedication to
Freedom is another very good release (...)
here are Joseph Kramer & Noé Cuellar as Coppice. This stands out as
a very smart configuration of sounds involving subtle hints at rhythm
but more than that assembling extremely interesting noises in the grand
acousmatic/electroacoustic tradtion (without sight of an acoustic
instrument) yet totally revelling in the spatial possibilities of, as
they put it: 'physical modeling synthesis, modular synthesizers, and
custom built devices' - amen to that. I'm deeply impressed! Have a
listen...
Include me out
Review by Musicworm (Ru)
Coppice | Preamble to Newly Cemented Dedication to Freedom (Aposiopese)
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