Arthur King is a California-based ensemble founded by Peter Walker, operating in that endlessly fascinating musical hinterland that is sometimes dubbed “new music”. This is the latest in their Unknown Movie Nights series, a programme of multimedia events at which a rotating cast of musicians create alternative film scores in real time.
Neither the ensemble nor the audience know beforehand which film will be screened, and previous events have featured movies as diverse as Nosferatu, Gravity and Edward Scissorhands. On this occasion it was Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi (Life Out Of Balance) (1982) which rolled off the projector, a remarkable audio-visual tone poem in its own right.
Wisely making little attempt to emulate Philip Glass’s renowned score, the group adopt a more contemplative approach to the film’s striking juxtaposition of urban and rural landscapes. The five shapeshifting and texturally rich pieces are in constant motion, evolving organically and bathed in a seemingly otherworldly light. Think of a collaboration between AMM and the Penguin Cafe Orchestra perhaps, as improbable as that may seem, and you’ll be getting somewhere close.
The ever-revolving Geologic Tides exerts a seductive pull, sheets of icy synth blending with Virgel’s wordless vocals as the warm analogue of Jacobson’s cello outlines a rather nebulous form. Living In Tech is the only piece with any prolonged rhythmic impetus, though its repeating patterns soon dissipate as it cycles through several changes.
Existence is the most overtly melodic piece, Virgel’s wordless chants carrying a powerful emotional charge. The chamber-esque superstructure of Corrupted is perhaps the one place you’ll hear a momentary nod to Glass, while Dig Precious Things finds Ralicke’s liquid tenor moving freely through a rather sombre improvised soundscape.
Dazzlingly unpredictable and more than worthy of sharing a bill with Reggio’s groundbreaking work, UMN (Koyaanisqatsi) delights and beguiles in equal measure.
Discography:
Geologic Tides; Living In Tech; Existence; Corrupted; Dig Precious Things (27.04)
David Ralicke (ts, ss, elec); Joel Virgel (v); Peter Jacobson (clo); Peter Walker (g, elec); Wally Ingram (pc). Los Angeles, 11 December 2021.
AKP Recordings AKP018
