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Barbara Dang & Muzzix — Michael Pisaro-Liu - Tombstones II
(Circum-Disc Helix LX021, 2025, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-11-13

Michael Pisaro-Liu - Tombstones II Cover art

So in this case, Michael Pisaro-Liu  is the composer, Barbara Dang is the artistic director as well as pianist, keyboardist, and one of several vocalists, and a subset of the Muzzix collective (including most of TOC) are performers. One might be forgiven for nodding off in the first ten minutes or so — there’s honestly not a lot going on, a piano note or chord here or there, long organ notes a microtone apart, some very subdued vocals, an occasional note on the bass. It’s not until the fourth track, “Rattle,” that things start to pick up a little when the sound becomes a bit more diverse, and the silence becomes a bit less of a factor in the overall misical fabric. Apparently there is an earlier album from 2021 simply titled Tombstones that leaves off where Tombstones II picks up, featuring many of the same musicians. Joining Dang here are Christian Pruvost (trumpet, whispering), Maryline Pruvost (vocals, flute, objects), Peter Orins (percussion, keyboard, spoken voice), Ivann Cruz (guitar, vocals, spoken voice), Raphaël Godeau (guitar, spoken voice, speak-singing), and Yoann Bellefont (double bass). Sounds like a big band septet, doesn’t it? Though it’s anything but — it’s a very quiet adventure overall, only near the end of the lengthy “Long Time” do we hear anything that make the VU meters register anything with some occasional deliberate piano chords, which carry on to the next track “Very Clear II.” Voices sweep in and out of the mix, sometimes merely microtones apart, with an effect that is beautiful yet sometimes disturbing in an unbalanced sort of way; one gets used to it, though, and each pass through these ten tracks is a little less alienating. While the entire album is clearly explorative and avant-garde, nothing at hand is really jagged or abrasive in any way, it’s just very, very quiet.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Ivann Cruz, Peter Orins, Barbara Dang

More info
http://circum-disc.bandcamp.com/album/michael-pisaro-liu-tombstones-ii

 

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