this land is your land Spring 2002 review

Tetsu Inoue and Andrew Deutsch "Field Tracker": Anomalous Nom 9 Seattle, WA

It hits you like flowers falling out of an airplane. With incredible attention to detail, the composition and sound treatments begin to feel more like slow mold than notes. At many points attention to mathematical harmonics begin to form musical phrases, but always this naturalistic chaos pours water and dust clouds into the staff. At one point chords on a guitar become bird chirps and back again.

Occasionally extreme twists remind me of its dsp production, and the effect is like using a low-grade resolution video camera to record a field of blowing sunflowers, then dipping it into a lake to watch its circuits spark into the depths.

More important than individual details is the flowing storyline. Constantly shifting in carefully metered patterns, each minute provides a small sound world that leads like a maze to the next. However, this tale is strangely devoid of character or landscape development. I would have liked more concrete suggestions on occasion to tie movements and details together. The work presents a very moving portrait of nature and people working together, but it remains slightly formal and detached. I'm not speaking in musical terms here: what is missing for me is commentary by the artists. Organic electronics is enough of a collision to generate seeds and question marks, but specific imagery is left out. I am left to intricacies of the CD and make up my own story.

Overall a fine, delicate and uncompromising work from two very intense artists.

a. bergman

This Land is Your Land

aaland@luckykitchen.com

Spain 2002