Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim - Starling

A Closer Listen

As the many pieces of music titled “Murmuration” demonstrate, the movements made by flocks of starlings have often inspired musicians. In Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim‘s album Starling the variety and complexity of murmurations was not the inspiration for the music but instead seemed to be an apt description of music already brought to life by the South Korean-born violinist and her trombonist, Kalia Vandever, and saxophonist, Alfredo Colón. The trio started from a series of prompts such as “play long tones” or “go against one another”, with rack titles such as “Further and Further”, “Drawing Out”, and “Passing By” indicating the depicted motion.

As you would expect from an improvised experimental album, it is varied and, at times, challenging, but tracks like “Sitting With It” and “As It All Goes By” are so beautiful that they will surely appeal to a wide audience. The press release calls this sentimentality, so I guess you can call me sentimental. They soar and my heart can’t help but follow.

We become aware of the individual starlings when the trio split and perform solo interludes. Kalia Vandever’s “Passing By” for trombone and effects is thoughtful, Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim’s violin in “Going Through” is tense and strained, and Alfredo Colón’s soprano sax in “Quick Flight” dashes with unpredictable brilliance. It was an inspired decision to have the trio perform solos because they cause you to hear the trio in a different way. The paradox of the starling murmuration is that a collection of individuals work together so compellingly. It is barely understood; scientists have theories as to how the birds coordinate their behaviour but not much more. Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim has brought that to life. Listening to it is an intriguing and, at times, heart-lifting experience.

The Free Jazz Collective 0

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First impressions of Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim’s debut, Starling: this is textural, improvised music. It sounds post-impressionistic, elegiac. “Soaring” says the liner notes. It has an unashamed sentimentality (or sentiment) and melancholy. There are sections of dissonance and clash, but mostly it takes its lead from the starlings of the title. Flying in murmurations starlings seem both natural and organized (self-organized). Murmurations have two rules, don’t get too close to each other and don’t get too far away. Lim’s trio has a few more rules than that (e.g., long tones!) but not many more, and it seems just as natural.

Starlingfeatures a trio of herself on violin, Alfredo Colón, EWI/soprano saxophone, and Kalia Vandever, trombone/fx, an ensemble that manages to mix textures and ranges that turns a relatively spare chamber group into a rich sonic source. Lim comes to improvisation via classical and chamber music and you can hear that in the language she speaks in these pieces.

The trio pieces have the three musicians setting space and tone with a few motions and then building more textures on that. It’s all ensemble playing, in the sense that there never seems to be a solo/accompaniment hierarchy happening. The third track, “Drawing Out,” starts with a sax minimalism that I want to say is in one, the violin stacks long high long tones on top of that, then the trombone adds more. Soon there is wandering, with the role of repetitive foundation being passed between them. They are listening intently to each other.

Mixed into the trio is one solo piece per player, giving us a sense of how the individuals and the group relate to each other. Kalia Vandever’s “Passing By” features her trombone interacting with her fx. Like playing into a clever echo canyon and having it answer your questions. Lim’s “Going Through (Molto Agitato)” is a very violinistic violin piece with burrs, double stops and chromatic slides. Colón’s “Quick Flight” almost sounds oboe-istic for its 53 seconds of light, Puckish extravagance.

“As It All Goes By” closes the set where it began, leaning on the strengths of the trio. These are expanses, not cascades. Sunrises, not supernovas. Tension tension—release. It’s the soundtrack for a film I want to see because I know it will improve my quality of life. There it is: Starlings improves my quality of life.