Recording: The BABEL Ensemble

Artist: The BABEL Ensemble

Song: Release of the Spirit [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space (Remembering Arachnidiscs), January 19, 2020.

The BABEL Ensemble - Release of the Spirit [excerpt]

Jakob Rehlinger needed only some moderate prodding to put together an event celebrating the winding down his Arachnidiscs label after a twenty-year run — though once he was committed, he ran with the idea, turning the event into a proper funeral, complete with wreath and memory book. He also had the idea of combining some of the label's alumni into one-off ensembles for this show.

The prize of the night was a release celebration for the label's swan song, Thirteen Exquisite Corpses by Rehlinger's ambitious (and rather beautiful) BABEL Ensemble project, where each of the participants "improvised to a series of minimal synthesizer drones provided by Rehlinger, unaware of each others' addition, which Rehlinger then edited into cohesive works." This live set assembled four musicians (M. Mucci, Matthew Fava, Dominic Marion and Kayla Milmine) who had participated, and were edited together on the project's first disc. The resultant piece, like the album, was entrancingly cohesive, and a worthy dirge to wrap things up.

[Jakob Rehlinger will be making some solo sounds at the first instalment of Appetite For Deconstruction, a new series convened by Mike Barber, next Thursday (February 27th) at Wenona Lodge.]