Search - Steve Peters :: Occasional Music

Undeservedly Obscure

Robert Carlberg | Seattle | 10/23/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Like Brian Eno's Obscure label in the 1970s, Kerry Leimer's Palace of Lights label is resurrecting or illuminating the careers of several musicians working around the fringes of the new music/experimental music/minimalist genre, including Tyler Boley, Michael William Gilbert, Gregory Taylor, Marc Barreca and now Steve Peters.



Steve is well-known around Seattle for his couple decades of soundtrack and installation work, but I don't know how much his reputation has traveled. This new CD of various works 1984-2003 ought to alleviate that. Each piece (there are eight of them ranging from 4-1/2 minutes to just over 13) is vastly different from each other, including a solo piano piece, a gamelan piece, a couple of guitar pieces, one for voiceloops and one that sounds vaguely Moroccan. What they share is a reverence for the space between notes, and a languid development. All were composed for various dances or installations, although stripped of their visuals they become stark 'new music' pieces which would not be out of place on Eno's Obscure label.



Excellent recordings let the air around these pieces breathe, while the music confounds and intrigues the listener. Many hours of entertainment in this musical Rubik's cube."