PEK Solo
Closed & Open Universes
Excerpt from Bruce Lee Gallanter Review
“I found the sound of this disc (disc 1) to be a bit lonely, yet somehow enchanting. PEK takes his time to explore each instrument, carefully bending his notes one or two at times, the delay adding an eerie sense of mystery… For Disc 2… PEK sounds great here, the production warm and not too weird. Instead of the usual dense Leap of Faith eruptions, PEK lays back, playing with a dream-like sound. Even his simmering melodica playing sounds a bit like Sun Ra, drifting from star to star. This is the most relaxed of all Evil Clown discs. The constant delay makes this more like a space trip… I was still knocked by the organic flow and space-age results.”
Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
Evil Clown mastermind David Peck (PEK) in a double album of solo work, first solo acoustic, then in a long work accompanied by his own prepared mixes, using clarinets, saxophones, English horn, goat horn, tarota, bamboo, Chistmas & alto flutes, slide whistles, sheng, Melodica, Akai Wind controller, moog subsequent, gongs, brontosaurus & tank bells, Englephone, and delay.
Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK
“… I really liked the shorter improvisations recorded each on a single instrument with delay, and so I decided that I would present a 2 CD package, with a selection of these sample pieces on Disc 1 and the solo with Ableton accompaniment on Disc 2.…”
Closed & Open Universes:
PEK Solo
Evil Clown Headquarters – Waltham MA – 12, 15 & 30 June 2019
Disc 1: Closed Universes
1) Wave like aspects of particle phenomena (gong) – 1:23
2) Ring singularities (wood flute) – 7:43
3) Cosmic string loop (English horn) – 6:09
4) Geometry of Space (clarinet) – 11:57
5) Spin foam (3 slide whistles) – 4:13
6) Closed loops of force (goat horn) – 3:29
7) Quanta of space (sheng) – 8:59
8) Probability Amplitudes (alto saxophone) – 9:11
9) Equations of motion (Christmas flute) – 4:28
10) Intractability (tenor Sax) – 9:15
11) Spacetime intervals (alto flute) – 5:54
12) Ring singularities reprise (wood flute) – 1:47
13) Particle like aspects of wave phenomena (gong) – 1:20
Disc 2: Open Universes
1) Curvature of Space – 1:18:22
PEK – clarinet & contralto clarinet, alto, tenor & bass saxophones, tarota, bamboo, Chistmas & alto flutes, Melodica, Akai Wind controller, moog subsequent, gongs, brontosaurus & tank bells, Englephone, digital delay, Ableton mix (samples from disc 1 pieces, From the Evil Clown Catalog, and specially recorded at evil Clown Headuarters)
Bruce Lee Gallanter Review
PEK – Solo: Closed and Open Universes (Evil Clown 9219; USA) Featuring PEK on clarinets, alto, tenor & bass saxes, taragato, flutes, melodica, wind controller, Moog synth, gongs, bells, delay & Abelton mix/samples. Disc 1 is called “Closed Universes” and Disc 2, “Open Universes” and both discs were recorded at Evil Clown Headquarters in June of 2019. Of the more than 100 releases from Leap of Faith & the offshoots, PEK solo efforts are the most rare. As we can see & hear, PEK collects many reed instruments, as well as a wide variety of percussion, synth, samples and devices. On Disc 1, PEK plays one instrument at a time, one per section and on Disc 2, he plays all 16+ instruments with samples from Disc 1. What makes Disc 1 interesting is that we get a chance to hear PEK explore each instrument one at a time. Certain instruments are pretty rare: sheng (Chinese free reed), goat horn (ocarina made from a goat’s horn) and Christmas flute. On Disc 1, PEK uses selective digital delay on all of his chosen instruments. This works well for the gong, flutes and assorted reeds, adding a subtle haze their sound. I found the sound of this disc to be a bit lonely, yet somehow enchanting. PEK takes his time to explore each instrument, carefully bending his notes one or two at times, the delay adding an eerie sense of mystery. For Disc 2, PEK layers his multiple instruments with samples of each instrument, as well as samples from the Evil Clown catalogue. Again, PEK starts with just a gong, floating in space, resonating, filled with suspense. PEK sounds great here, the production warm and not too weird. Instead of the usual dense Leap of Faith eruptions, PEK lays back, playing with a dream-like sound. Even his simmering melodica playing sounds a bit like Sun Ra, drifting from star to star. This is the most relaxed of all Evil Clown discs. The constant delay makes this more like a space trip. Although 78+ minutes does seem rather long, I was still knocked out by the organic flow and space-age results.
Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
Liner Notes by PEK
Occasionally there is a break in the Evil Clown schedule and I have a little time for a solo session. In the 90s, I did solo performances occasionally – which presented several challenges. I like to work in a long form with lots of instrument changes, so I came up with several tricks for rapidly changing horns while continuing the improvisation…
Recently, I have been using the Ableton software to create electronic mixes which we use in several of the bands as an accompaniment track. In performance, I ride the fader from off to very present, but most of the time more to the background. Raw samples are taken from the Evil Clown Catalog and also specially recorded at Evil Clown Headquarters with instruments drawn from the Evil Clown arsenal. I then use Adobe Audition to process the samples and finally Ableton to assemble a timeline and create a mix. Several of my solo records have used these mixes. The accompaniment track neatly solves the problem of transitioning instruments.
For this set I decided to take a different approach. Instead of a pre-recorded Ableton mix, I used a batch of effects stomp boxes along with the theremin, [d]ronin, daxophone and the newly arrived mpa 019. I recorded a loop with the mpa 019 and set up long delays on the other instruments and a moog ring modulator on the theremin. Several of these options create sounds that persist over time, so as the improvisation unfolds sometimes I have sometimes have several simultaneous sets of sounds and sometimes decay from these devices available to cover transitions between instruments.
One thing I really like about solo sessions is that I can do them spontaneously. I worked all day Saturday on the new Frame Notation Score, Systems of Celestial Mechanics, and was planning to continue on Sunday. As I was starting the day, I changed my mind and did this recording instead. I’m super happy with the result which contains fairly long sections (4 to 5 minutes) of focused solos of the horns I used (sopranino & tenor saxophones, contralto clarinet & sheng) as well as a bunch of the metal percussion and weirder electronic instruments ([d]ronin, mpa 019, daxophone, theremin) often sounding together…
PEK – 10/28/2019
Instrument Photos
