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Many of the track titles simply describe instrumentation (“Snare Drum,” “Piano”), while others reference a musical approach (“Musique Concrete,” “Indeterminacy”). You can certainly identify specific sounds here and there–guitar-amp noise, metallic rustling, bowed percussion, urban field recordings–but the work revolves around abstract texture and gesture. Most of the pieces range in duration from two to five minutes, and manage to convey a rewarding sense of development in that brief time.
Compared with the duo pieces, the Dropp Ensemble material is infinitely more elaborate and elusive. Much of Sonderberg’s music puts great emphasis on resonant, rumbling low end, and these beautifully billowing, fluid works are no exception. Sometimes you can make out what’s clearly an instrument, like Weber’s arco double-bass scrapes on the brief opener, “Inlet,” but most of the time the various components are too slippery to indentify–just tones, washes, and flutters. Close listening reveals a wealth of patiently shifting detail–the way rhythmic fluctuations in long tones change pulse, the exquisite layering of disparate colors, the aural friction created by the pairing of oppositional sounds. It’s a minimalist gem.
