Sherman, Jeff - Home

Year of Release: 2003
Label: Relentless Pursuit
Catalog Number: RD4135
Format: CD
Total Time: 00:00:00

In 2003, Glass' Jeff Sherman released his second solo CD, Home. However, at least three of the pieces contain elements that were recorded much, much earlier. For example, the core of "Burying Euphoria," Sherman writes in the liner notes, "is a 33-year old cassette tape recording made by my father which I sampled into my laptop. [?] It was performed on stage only once at the Port Townsend High School Spring Orchestra Concert in 1970, which is when my father recorded it." What's on this recording? Moody, dark passages; thin and reedy keyboard phrases that might make you think a bit of Keith Emerson, although Sherman's approach is quite different. Underlying these synth excursions is sparse, boomy percussion. In some ways this piece is overindulgent. It contains a long passage that has static movement, but not in that haunting stopped-time way of, for example, Steve Roach.

However, having said that, there is something very haunting about this piece, owing to the orchestral backdrop that comes in at about the 8-minute mark. It's like drawing in a breath and rather than exhaling; we are left hanging in a moment of ice-crystalline-like, eerie silence, just the tinkling of chimes and a barely-there sustained note. If it weren't for subsequent tracks, we'd be left in this state for eternity, as this is how the piece ends.

"Rainy Day" (track 4) is based on a poem by his brother Greg (also in Glass) and the music of Erik Satie. This also is plagued by a too-long, too-repetitive passage that comes in the "third movement," though some of the major segments that surround it are more focused. "Rainy Day" starts out gothic with its use of church organ-like tones, evoking a sense of darkness and loneliness (enhanced by the distant sound of children's voices in the background).

The third movement seems like the "end credits" to this drama; here we have a sonorous piano playing beautiful but sad phrase that shows very little, if any, variation, and so seems to run on too long (especially as it does not end the track). It is followed by a brief sci-fi/spacey keyboard effect section, and what turns out to be the concluding passage, a section characterized by a dark-toned strummed guitar that is soon joined by Hopper's noodlely double-speed guitar (I believe). At times, this section made me think they were playing a version of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday," with additional synth flourishes.

"Home," the second track, is a soft, acoustic guitar-based composition, augmented, as Sherman writes, with stereo-panning vibes sample, a Mellotron cello "played on my brother Greg's then-brand new Mellotron 400D", and the sound of an occasionally stirred crackling fire. It's a very, very mellow and somber piece. There is little of what was released on Glass' No Stranger To The Skies album, as there it had a Yes/Floyd/Genesis hybrid feel to it.

"The Apes And The Auroras" posits a story behind the title, a story involving Great Apes and Hugh Hopper on a road trip in the Pacific Northwest in 1978 (though there's no indication that the track originated in 1978). The core of this piece is a spacey, synthy digital keyboard, though there are darker accompanying tones. Hopper contributes fuzz bass and loops, while Sherman also incorporates modified VLF samples and modified sampled nature recordings of Great Apes communicating via hollow logs, originally recorded by Bernie Krause. It's highly atmospheric, the feeling of being outdoors on clear, crisp night evident in the music, even without the "backstory" providing context. And that's before the chirps of crickets can be heard. It becomes, by the 12-minute mark, even more atmospheric, a combination of incidental music and audio track to the film. What starts out spacey, ends up quite earthy.

Home is Sherman reconnecting to his past, now that part of that past - Glass - is very much his present. However, while Home makes for a nice listen, it ends up in a rather nebulous state. Because nothing sounds off putting or anything, it's all very likeable; but it lacks some essential something that keeps it from being one of those great recordings that finds a permanent place on the playlist. But, I'm not sure exactly what that missing something is.

Tracklisting:
Burying Euphoria (12:35) / Home (3:35) / The Apes And The Auroras (18:40) / Rainy Day (24:01)

Musicians:
Jeff Sherman - conductor, flute, digital keyboard samples, drum samples, bass guitar, original digital recordings and samples, collected anonymous recordings, shovel, acoustic guitar, mellotron, sampled vibes, samples, modified VLF samples, modified sampled nature recordings of Great Apes communicating via hollow logs, modified 'Gymnopedies' sample, modified and looped samples, Magnus chord organ, silverware

Guests:

Greg Sherman - acoustic piano, synthesizer (1)
Jerry Cook - drums (1)
Hugh Hopper - fuzz bass, loops, double-speed guitar

Orchestra (1):
Jenny Leighton - cello
Sue Nichols - cello
Carol Knoph - French horn
Bob Lockhart - French horn
Tom Lindley - 1st violin
Kathy Fields - 2nd violin
Karen Kvinsland - viola
Mark Hawley - acoustic and electric bass

Stephen McGreevy - original VLF Recordings of earth's magnetosphere (3)
Bernie Krause - original nature recordings of Great Apes (3)

Discography:
Above & Beyond (2002)
Home (2003)
Gauguin (2006)

Genre: Other

Origin US

Added: September 24th 2006
Reviewer: Stephanie Sollow
Score:
Artist website: www.rpursuit.com/jeffsherman/
Hits: 1663
Language: english