I’ve been on a bit of a “Laura Cannell and associated artists” kick lately, and this new record just arrived.
Internationally acclaimed musician Laura Cannell releases a 30 minute Overbow Violin recording inspired by the 1000 year long composition Longplayer by Jem Finer (Artist, Composer and one of the founders of The Pogues). BOW & CREAK was recorded in a single take at Cannell’s Suffolk studio and the name was inspired by the corner of the Thames where the snaking tidal river meets one of London’s oldest navigational waterways in the country, Bow Creek, this is where Finer’s Longplayer has been installed since 31 December 1999, playing without repetition.
Cannell used a snapshot of Finer’s ever changing Longplayer score to create a longform violin track. Circular bowing motions on her violin are made with a deconstructed bass viol bow to play polyphonic chords, and improvised melodic passages are re-iterated with asymmetric repetitions which are combined with ancient tune fragments and the ghosts medieval and renaissance ornamentation. Captivated by the upturned bell sounds of the Longplayer singing bowls, Cannell used fragments of structure, fragments of note shapes and the circulatory image of Jem Finer’s original score to create a mini violin response to Longplayer.
I’ve had the Longplayer app on my phone for years, so this was interesting serendipity for me. It swirls and skirls and shifts around the eternally transforming shapes of Jem Finer’s Longplayer form. It’s all water and circles, and I find it transporting.