Squidco Blurb

Boston improviser and multi-instrumentalist David Peck (PEK) in a solo album using his Quartet of PEKs formats, improvising in the studio through four layers, presenting the final installment of a triptych of albums constrained to one or two woodwind instrument families – this one for flutes and double reeds, along with nadaswaram, shenai, goat horn, dizi, bass tromboon, &c &c.

Squidco Staff

Liner Notes by PEK

Every once in a while, there is a break in the crazy schedule here at Evil Clown and I have some time to do a solo album. Our grand olde pal, the Corona Virus has provided such a break in spades…. At the beginning of the year, it appeared that the year would be our busiest yet… We did a bunch of albums in January, February and the first weeks of March, and then I was forced to cancel a bunch of wonderful performances scheduled for the months that followed. So, I caught up all my old business: web site, social media, distribution, and the other non-musical activity required to drive the enterprise. Then I took a month off… my biggest rest since I started up in 2015 after my long hiatus. In mid-May I started up again, conceiving some new means of producing some of the enormous output normally achieved by Evil Clown.

For obvious reasons, I have been producing a lot more PEK Solo albums than I do in a typical year. As with larger ensemble Evil Clown sessions, the planning involves selecting sound resources from the massive Evil Clown Arsenal and setting up the studio with these instruments to allow rapid changes in instrumentation and therefore in sonority.

The PEK Solo albums fall into four categories:

1) One continuous track (no overdubbing) of PEK playing one or many instruments with or without signal processing.

2) One continuous track of PEK playing one or many instruments with a prerecorded mix of samples drawn from the Evil Clown Catalog or specially recorded at Evil Clown Headquarters. Solo albums from before this year fall into the categories 1 & 2.

3) A Quartet of PEKs – Four continuous tracks of one PEK each playing many instruments on each pass. Two of these albums, Schematic Abstractions for the Clarinet Family and Fixed Intentions for the Saxophone Family use very focused palettes. Unifications and The Strange Theory of Light and Matter use broad palettes comprised of woodwinds, percussion, electronics, and strings.

4) An Orchestra of PEKs – Many tracks of PEKs performing on a broad section of the Arsenal. The last of these, Some Truths are Known, is a mammoth 4-hour studio construction / composition in 3 eighty-minute movements. I list 110 instruments in the notes for this album….

I like this Quartet of PEKs format. On the first track I play 60% to 70% of the album’s duration leaving a silence of several minutes at each instrument change. In many ways, the first track dictates the overall form of the work. The next three tracks each fill in some of that space and play counterpoint to the previously recorded tracks. The result is a quartet with all the parts played by me, a bit like playing in an ensemble where you are reacting to the other material in real time with a couple of significant differences. The interaction is one-way, since the prerecorded material is already fixed (apart from the relative volumes controlled in the final mix). The waveforms of the previous tracks are visible in the computer DAW program. For an improvisor whose principle technical method relies on phrasing, the waveform reveals a great deal of information helpful to the decisions executed in each subsequent track. The form of the work, especially, is subject to improvisation as each layer fixes more formal elements.

This is the fifth one in the Quartet of PEKs series and the final installment of a triptych of albums constrained to a one or two woodwind instrument families.

The 5 albums are:

Triptych:

Schematic Abstractions for the Clarinet Family

https://peksolo.bandcamp.com/album/schematic-abstractions-for-the-clarinet-family

Fixed Intentions for the Saxophone Family

https://peksolo.bandcamp.com/album/fixed-intentions-for-the-saxophone-family

Completeness for Flutes and Double Reeds (This Album)

https://peksolo.bandcamp.com/album/completeness-for-flutes-and-double-reeds

Broader palette:

The Strange Theory of Light & Matter

https://peksolo.bandcamp.com/album/the-strange-theory-of-light-matter

Unifications

https://peksolo.bandcamp.com/album/unifications

Until the stupid virus is over and more normal interactions are possible with other people, I will continue to create PEK Solo new works using the four concepts listed above and maybe some new ones. There will also be some small group Leap of Faith and Metal Chaos Ensemble sets. Evil Clown will resume its normal routines when it is safe to do so.

As usual, the chaos of the universe throws problems which require our attention. Expression must be expressed. Music must be made. The chaos of the universe demands it.

PEK – 10/4/2020