Unfamiliar Ceilings is an excursion into unfamiliar territory alright, but it’s territory where the ceilings look open like blue skies. Lina Tullgren’s violin is pooled with the koto of Alec Toku Whiting, two nonconformists who seek even further nonconformity in banding together.
The term “unfamiliar” can also apply to this Tullgren’s very recent plunge into experimental instrumental music after launching a two-album career as a singer-songwriter. Returning to their instrument of youth (violin) with a new-found attitude toward it, Tullgren must feel some emancipation in exploiting every tonal possibility inherent in the violin and sure enough, that’s just how they sound.
Whiting is likewise a multi-instrumentalist but his childhood instrument was the koto, which he learned growing up in Japan. He’s been deeply involved both formal composition and improvisation, and had previously collaborated with Wendy Eisenberg, Mark Fell, the Mivos Quartet and Ted Reichman.
On “47,” Tullgren shows an abundance of resourcefulness, with some tactical looping and even manages some impactful hand-made percussion. This doesn’t even get into how Tullgren attacks the strings in alien ways. Whiting sets down tonal markers that establishes the parameters as his partner runs wild. The dispersed nature of this performance lays it all to bare and both hold up well under that kind of exposure. “polly chainsaw” is more dense and abrasive, but somehow in that cacophony, Whiting makes his koto resemble, at various times, an accordion, a train horn and even a violin(!).
Reichman contributes synthesizer and pedals on the final track “every finger, an eye,” immediately noticeable by the addition of this symphonic, ethereal sonic backing. Perhaps as a response to Reichman’s lavish synth washes, both Tullgren and Whiting play with a greater sensitivity to harmony than on the other two tracks. There’s also an unmistakable forward movement, and you’re acutely aware that this piece breathes and evolves over its seventeen-plus minutes.
Astral Spirits has made Unfamiliar Ceilings available to the public and you can get your copy here.
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