Powers / Rolin Duo - Clearing

A Closer Listen

The press release mentions rivers of lava and a dip in a cold water creek: one track fire, the other water.  The common denominator: flow.  

Jen Powers plays hammered dulcimer, Matthew J Rolin guitar and sounds, the latter which we take to include percussion and more, a persistent shimmer granted the opening minutes of “Peridot.”  At first, the album seems all texture, but the more one listens, the more one experiences the form.  Even spontaneous music coalesces, just like lave becomes islands.  As each side contains a single track, there’s no need to rush, so when the first Appalachian melody emerges after enough time has elapsed for a single, it’s still right on time, the clarity a happy contrast.

Rivers, whether fire or water, flow along, impassively ignorant of time.  In the same way, one may lose one’s self in this music, allowing it to wash over the ears and to envelop a room.  Peridot, also called chrysolite, is a transparent, olive-green gemstone, its color replicated on the unusual cover, which seems itself in motion, defying physics in multiple manners, suggesting both sex and space. The clearing may be the emergence from brush, musical density, or muddled thought; the flow of these pieces is an invitation to clear one’s mind.

“Albatross” seems a more foreboding title, because people conflate the elements of the mariner’s tale; the bird was hung around his neck as punishment for its murder.  The real-life albatross is a cheerful, dancing bird, which can live as long as 50 years.  Powers / Rolin Duo’s piece is reflective and lovely, again taking its time to develop, akin to the albatross’ lengthy path to sexual maturity.  Does the bird wait so long to mate because it isn’t ready, because it isn’t interested, or because it has other goals it wants to accomplish first?  The musical build-up doesn’t seem like a build-up, as it too is content to be where it already is.  “Albatross” too will eventually reach its clearing: gentle tones that cascade through the closing minutes, like acceptance, like peace.  (Richard Allen)

The Free Jazz Collective 0

By Guido Montegrandi

In a 2022 article written for The Wire, Bill Meyer described the music of the Powers/Rolin Duo as a fusion of “post Takoma guitar music with cosmic drones” – and this is something that I could agree to when I first listened to Clearing, the new release from the duo, but there is more, something like an earthy quality that fills your ears. It is an amazing wall of sound that a 12-string acoustic guitar, some electronics and a hammered dulcimer can produce and a sound with a shimmering, cinematic trait that easily evoke natural sceneries and can be thought as music for an imaginary documentary.

The notes inform us that the pieces are produced by editing various moments in the recording sessions: “There are edits or augmentations evident, creating (or revealing) form, in the tradition of Teo Macero’s work on In A Silent Way. (…). We overdub, we mix, we edit. We master, we distribute.”.

The vinyl album has a track on each side: 'Peridot' (side A) is a continuous flow of energy while 'Albatross' (side B) offers a more meditative approach but what really characterizes the duo is the use of hammered dulcimer as a drone instrument. True to her musical sympathies (The Spiral Joy Band, Pelt, Terry Riley – again from Meyer’s article) Jen Powers takes this instrument out of its folk roots to develop a circular expansive sound on which Rolin displays his own finger-picking style.

Many times during the years we have seen folk instruments and traditional music styles mixed up with a contemporary improvisatory approach, sometimes we have also witnessed the use of peculiar instruments and techniques just for the sake of the sound they produce and as means to produce a sound that’s new and refreshing and interesting. This is one of these cases but if you do not believe me you can judge by yourself on bandcamp:

Clearing by Powers / Rolin Duo

On youtube, you can find videos of various performances in which the improvisatory element is more evident with no editing or overdubs – here for example