Spoono
Sea Breeze
FORMAT: CDR
LIMITED EDITION: 50
RUNNING TIME: 25:10
CATALOGUE NUMBER: DirtyCDR 020
RELEASE DATE: November 2007
excerpt
about
In late 2004, Jack Allet started playing as Spoono and has been releasing a steady stream of limited run cdrs ever since. While also a member of tape-fog vocal-splatter improv duo/trio Towering Breaker and anxiety-ridden rock quartet Catnap, as Spoono Jack can generally be found performing as a solo acoustic guitar picker.
Evidently though, this release takes a very different approach. 'Sea Breeze' is full of layers of distorted electric sound, modal feedback manipulation, guitar abuse etc...(plus some double drum kit action from Catnap cohort Ben Pruess on the title track).
The last track, 'I Have Dodged Through The Parking Lots...', was originally written to accompany a short film installation by Hannah Ellul, with each of the 6 voices split to 6 seperate speakers around the room. Hopefully the stereo mix presented here works in its own right, outside the context of the film.
Other recent Spoono releases include collaborative improvised cdr albums by both Les Enfants and Bela Emerson, plus a split cdr EP with -a+M on Woodland Recordings.
reviews
"The creativity at the house of Dirty Demos continues with a release from Spoono AKA Jack Allet of Towering Breaker. My scottish roots mean Iíve always got time for the sound of bagpipes so the 'Sea Breeze' EP's opener 'Bagpipe Song' is right up my street. I'm not entirely sure if bagpipes are the source of the sound or not but it sounds like it and its all fuzzed up and that. I could imagine this coming out on Ecstatic Peace. Then we get some cool guitar improv bits that seem to brood suggesting menace. A cracking little trip that fans of stuff on the Three Lobed and Blackest Rainbow labels should investigate."
- Ant, Norman Records
"The other new release on Dirty Demos is by Spoono, being on Jack Allett. He opens with 'Bagpipe Song', and, sure it may include bagpipes, but they are not easy to detect in the barrage of noise and drone. It's a heavy piece, but it flies about, sparkling, furious and it's nice. On 'Fuck It, It's Broken Again', I think he means the guitar that sounds about. It's also loud, but more improvised sounding.
A bit incoherent this one. The noise of guitar and drums (courtesy of Ben Pruess) sound more better. A slow menacing piece of music. The final piece moves into feedback land again, and here, oddly enough, it could a bagpipe. The first and last piece were my favorites, as they sound the most coherent."
- Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly
"It's been over three years now that Londoner Jack Allett has been recording as Spoono and already has an impressive roster of releases. Although his principal influences seem to be the minimalism of Rhys Chatham and Terry Riley, neo-weirdo-folk (MV+EE & company) and avant guitar pickers with one foot in the past (such as John Fahey or Jack Rose), this release is of a decidedly more experimental and electronic nature. In just barely over twenty-five minutes, Allet conjures up ghosts, future presences and alien landscapes with these four distinctly intriguing pieces of music.
'Bagpipe Song' opens with a dense drone over which some heavily treated electric guitar extemporizes on some vaguely Scottish mode that is neither really bagpipe nor song. The overtone series and fried timbres are the real stars here and while the playing is evocative of some bagpipe music, the track is taken into another world altogether.The last few minutes are especially exciting with Allett channeling the spectre of Hendrix through the highlands and back again through his axe and its chain of devices. The second piece conjures up late-70s Fred Frith, early Sonic Youth and the experimental spirit of 80s self-produced guitar recordings by the likes of Chip Handy or Jim O'Rourke. Feedback, direct string manipulation and using the guitar's body as an instrument all come into play. It's a great number, free in feeling but with a definite sense of cohesiveness that sets it apart from random noise-mongering.
The title track brings drummer Ben Pruess (of the group Catnap, who Allett also plays in) on board for a foray into some noisy psychedelic rock territory. After a microtonal loop and noise-fest intro, a plodding drone rock motif is established over which there is wailing, squealing and fuzzy whatnot is applied to create a wonderful sense of disorientation. The drumming is adequate enough, but is poorly recorded and seems almost superfluous beneath the layers of guitar. It does, however, help to propel the piece. The all-guitar coda really makes my day, complete with more drone riffage. The concluding 'I Have Dodged Through The Parking Lots...' was originally recorded to accompany a short film by one Hannah Ellul. Here the six-channel installation work is condensed into stereo, so we'll never know the full effect of the piece in its intended context. At any rate it's just over three minutes of ambient guitar minimalism with some of the best fuzz, hum and melodic sweetness this side of Christian Fennesz. Beautiful work.
This being my introduction to the work of Jack Allett, I can only hope to hear more. I'm especially interested in what he does in the presence of a rock band, as I can clearly hear his playing in such a a context. Anyone interested in left-of-center guitar music should check out Spoono. It's not Derek Bailey and it's not Robbie Basho, but somewhere comfortably in the swirling vortex in between. A nice place to be in my book."