Daniel Biro returns with what can only be described as a Biblical concept album. Featuring Gareth Davis on bass-clarinet, the Vocal Motions Singers choir, as well as traditional Jewish ram’s horns, ‘A Still, Thin Sound’ is nevertheless a full-on electronic experience in two contrasting movements. The piece’s narrative and sonic methodology were directly inspired by Biro’s study of mystical Talmudic sources dealing with the nature of spiritual revelation. The first part, Sinai, revolves around the sound of the Shofar, the ram’s horn blown during the traditional Jewish High Holidays, and is an abstract narrative of what the collective revelation at Mount Sinai might have sounded like. An echo of supernatural communication between God and the Hebrew Nation after the Exodus from Egypt. The second part, Elijah, is a solo for virtuoso bass-clarinettist Gareth Davis and real-time electronics representing the individual struggle experienced by the prophet Elijah to attain enlightenment and divine communication. The bass-clarinet goes through different ‘mystical states’ of electronic transformation before reaching the breath-like stillness of personal revelation. Elijah was specifically written for Davis and his mastery of extended playing techniques.
Credits:
Daniel Biro: electronics, Shofar – Gareth Davis: bass clarinet – Vocal Motions Singers: voices
Recorded at CAMAC (France) and at home (London)
TRACK LIST:
1. PART 1: SINAI
(shofar, electronics, voices) (18:50)
2. PART 2: ELIJAH
(bass clarinet, electronics) (29:20)
Also available as downloads:
