Kimberly Glover: Rachel Corrie

The Sonic Music Review has on many occasions featured a variety of works by less established artists alongside their better known counterparts and contemporaries. For Kimberly Glover, a musician and composer with a wide ranging portfolio of material, political motivation drives much of her creative practice, as in the case of 'Rachel Corrie' featured here.

Rachel Corrie by Kim Glover

The track principally draws upon the aesthetics of sound poetry and traditional string writing, the instrumentation largely consisting of a synthesised string quartet and spoken word, later developing to include a notable trip-hop influenced breakbeat section. The spoken word element is derived from 'My Name Is Rachael Corrie,' a theatrical work which contains primarily excerpts of Corrie's own personal diary. For those unfamiliar with the subject, Rachel Corrie was an American member of the International Solidarity Movement who tragically died while attempting to prevent the demolition of a local Palestinian's home.

The string writing in this piece follows a musical structure known as Sonata Form, an interesting decision which by virtue of a variety of thematic material evokes a wide range of emotions, several areas of the work proving particularly effective due to a discontinuity between the sobering nature of the spoken word and overly optimistic musical writing. As the piece develops, the vocal elements are subjected to electronic processing in a manner comparable to early AustraLYSIS works, such as 'Nuraghic Echoes' which is reviewed here.

The concluding section of the work introduces heavy percussion elements and background samples, while the vocal elements are purposefully removed from the mix, giving the final words which note Corrie's death greater prominence as the work ends. This section is overt in aesthetic references to trip-hop acts such as Massive Attack and adds great interest through such a contrasting style of writing compared to the work's beginnings. While the track's production could be refined further, the work shows both great promise and skill from this highly unique composer. The Sonic Music Review would like to take the chance to wish Kimberly Glover every success in the future.

If you are an independent artist and wish to submit your own original electronic musical works to The Sonic Music Review, please get in contact, we'd love to hear from you.

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AustraLYSIS: Nuraghic Echoes

AustraLYSIS are a little known Australian musical project, specialising in laptop composition and processing of typically spoken word by poet Hazel Smith. This reviewer first encountered the band following a workshop given by the trio in 2011 and subsequent performance where a recording of 'Nuraghic Echoes' was purchased. This particular release tells the story of the Nuraghe, constructions by the Nuraghic civilisation during the bronze age.

AustraLYSIS: Nurachic Echoes

Firstly, it is important to note that the music reviewed here is of a style that may be unfamiliar to some readers of The Sonic Music Review, consisting of processing of live spoken word, accompanied by various elements of Acousmatic composition. In this regard, this release is perhaps comparable to the better known collaborative works between Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto, such as 'Summvs,' reviewed here.
In this setting however, the use of spoken word introduces deeper meaning to the music. Interestingly Smith's creative exploration of vocal timbre to produce unusual constructions, such as percussive and comic elements as first explored performers such as Cathy Berberian's 'Stripsody.'

The release itself consists of two tracks, dominated by the first, the title track 'Nuraghic Echoes.' Throughout this track, the performers explore various surrounding the Nuraghi and their origins, the early emigration to Australia and life thereafter. This is accompanied by sparse electronic elements, produced from synthesis, sound processing of Smith's performance and processing of additional sound samples. As the piece develops, a wide variety of processing is evident on Smith's performance, becoming increasingly processed using varying techniques which highlight a remarkable use of technology which by today's standards would be considered highly limited.

Moving onto 'The Riting Of The Runda,' the style moves to a more experimental form of spoken word, with a lessened emphasis on digital processing, at least at first. This again proves to be a highly engaging work, in no small part due to the brooding and disturbing setting of poetry. Considering the release as a whole, this is a highly interesting work, building upon the strong Australian tradition of sound poetry in a highly innovative and original way.

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