Excerpt From Liner Notes by PEK

“… This performance is a very interesting development in this history, combining long prior history with Eric and recent small format Leap of Faith performances with Elinor.  One of the main characteristics of String Theory compared to Leap of Faith is the absence of a drummer.  We love Yuri’s playing and there are many wonderful performances by LOF with additional strings, but occasionally we do the strings without drum set.  String Theory, as a result, has a much more chamber music vibe than Evil Clown albums by the other bands.  Although Yuri is absent, there is still percussion, just no drum set; I brought some gongs and a couple bags of wood and metal instruments and Eric included several cymbals in his piano set up, and also played the piano interior with mallets…”

Squid’s Ear Review by Nick Ostrum

The indefatigable David Peck (PEK) is at it still. While the recent announcement of the retirement of long-time Leap of Faith percussionist Yuri Zbitnov might damper Evil Clown’s output — indeed, Zbitnov was a key, creative driving force in numerous Leap of Faith projects — until I happened upon 3 of 9 Dimensions, I had not heard a PEK recording on which Zbitnov had not made an indelible and essential mark. String Theory (a revolving unit but, here, Glynis Lomon, Elinor Speirs [a member of LoF just since 2018], Eric Zinman, and PEK himself) was established in 2015. Recorded live at Cambridge, MA’s Outpost 186, 3 of 9 Dimensions is the evolving String Theory unit’s 15th album and the first with Speirs and the second with Zinman.

As far as chamber ensembles go, String Theory is forceful. At times, Lomon (cello) and Speirs (violin) fall into sweet melodies or entangled whispers. There are a few moments when Zinman lays a few tight, wistful runs on his upright. At times, PEK sets his horns down and only slowly begins to rummage through his box of noise makers. That said, even these quieter moments are pregnant with a surprising gravity. The focus lies on the discordant and the disquieting quiet, rather than the sonorous and tranquil. To the extent this music is sometimes bucolic (and sections do evoke bird chirps, wisps of wind, and calm landscapes), it is considerably heavier than such a romantic description might indicate. And, even given the absence of a primary drummer — a point PEK emphasizes in his program notes — this album is nevertheless filled with percussive bluster from the musicians’ primary strings and reeds to a small arsenal of cymbals, bells, rattles, and other musical instruments and trinkets, including Lomon and PEK on the aquasonic. Near the end of the performance, Lomon and Speirs round out the resulting musical kerfuffle with an extended section of overlain Leandre-esque vocalizations, which gradually release to the final fade to a lone violin. Zbitnov will be missed. But, if String Theory can be read metonymically, LoF will continue, maybe less percussively rich, but hardly less clangorously.

It is also worth noting that this album is a departure from other PEK projects, and not just because of the absence of Zbitnov. Part of the reason is stylistic. Part seems tactical, as isolating a chamber unit allows the musicians to practice and perform as a concentrated unit rather than simply a section of the larger orchestra. At the same time, however, this ensemble also opens the seasoned LoF listener to some the nuances and overlain textures that underly the cacophony of the collective’s sound. It lends insight into how, despite the sheer mass of the larger unites, these Evil Clown projects share a logical and interpersonal cohesion that effectively steer the groups away from the entropic free blowing that so often follows in other large, improvisational ensembles. This recording shows another, more grounded (i.e. less cosmos-focused) side of PEK (and Lomon, Speirs, and Zinman) than the big band does. At the same time, it is still very much of the LoF ilk in its playful and resourceful curiosity. And for that, I am grateful..

Liner Notes by PEK

In the early Leap of Faith (LOF) period (90s), we did a number of shows with Strings and myself, in fact, for a while the core trio was myself on reeds, Glynis Lomon on cello, and Craig Schildhauer on bass.  String Theory is the extended string section of the Leap of Faith Orchestra, and the current incarnation of this early period Leap of Faith ensemble.  As well as being the string section of the orchestra, String Theory performs and records independently.  Since we rebooted the Leap of Faith project in 2015, we have released over 10 albums of string and woodwind improvisations…

For this set, Glynis and I are joined by one of our favorite violinists, Elinor Speirs, and pianist Eric Zinman from Glynis’ other trio New Language Collaborative (NLC).  Elinor first did a Leap of Faith session last summer just before joining the LOFO performance of Cosmological Horizons at Killian Hall MIT in July of 2018.  She has finished her DMA at New England Conservatory and now splits her time between New York and Boston.  Despite her crazy travel schedule, she has managed to make time for more Leap of Faith sets recorded at Evil Clown Headquarters and now this String Theory performance at Outpost 186. 

Eric, Glynis and I all go way back, since Eric was on the Boston Free Music scene when I arrived in 1989, and we played back then.  During the long Leap of Faith hiatus, Eric played a great deal with Glynis and the brilliant drummer Syd Smart in NLC.  In more recent times. Eric has been the regular pianist for the Leap of Faith Orchestra and a frequent guest in smaller Leap of Faith ensembles, Metal Chaos Ensemble, and String Theory.

This performance is a very interesting development in this history, combining long prior history with Eric and recent small format Leap of Faith performances with Elinor.  One of the main characteristics of String Theory compared to Leap of Faith is the absence of a drummer.  We love Yuri’s playing and there are many wonderful performances by LOF with additional strings, but occasionally we do the strings without drum set.  String Theory, as a result, has a much more chamber music vibe than Evil Clown albums by the other bands.  Although Yuri is absent, there is still percussion, just no drum set; I brought some gongs and a couple bags of wood and metal instruments and Eric included several cymbals in his piano set up, and also played the piano interior with mallets…

PEK, 19 May 2019