Mort Aux Vaches

LLUSION OF SAFETY: Mort Aux Vaches Staalplaat No Number CD The latest CD by Illusion of Safety (aka Dan Burke and Kurt Griesch) is a provocative blend of Improv and Ambient. Two tracks at approximately 25 and 30 minutes respectively; both are entirely improvised and make extremely sensitive use of field recordings and electronic sound processing. The first opens with fragmentary avant- piano set against gravel-metallic noises--tiny sounds amplified until they become all-encompassing and disturbing. Thereafter, the dynamic range is mostly reduced to subdued, expansive drones and murmurs, punctuated by distorted chimes and cymbals. Sometimes there's just a hair's breath between sound and 'silence'. Like the work of AMM, Morphogenesis and Organium, Mort Auz Vaches takes on environmental proportions as it seeps imperceptibly into your urban landscape: passing cars, even those multiphoning starlings on my roof, with their Evan Parker impersonations, were determined to be part of the overall sound design. Listened to on headphones, you become more aware of Burke and Griesch's marvelous timing and pacing as you hear the even tinier, submerged sounds - pops and crackles, tremulous metallic resonances, half-heard voices, a finger rubbed across a stylus as Pere Ubu's David Thomas once sang: The smallest details, the finest points, they all add up." One of the most quietly riveting albums I've heard. Chris Blackford, The Wire.