Search - Stuart Dempster & Panaiotis Pauline Oliveros :: Deep Listening

A true Deep Listening experience

Steve Benner | Lancaster, UK | 04/17/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Pauline Oliveros' "Deep Listening" enterprises are always fascinating and thought-provoking. This CD, released under that simple title, is no exception. Dating from 1989, the music presented here was all recorded during a single Deep Listening improvisation session, involving Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster and the vocalist, Panaiotis. To make this a truly Deep Listening experience, the whole session took place in a disused underground water cistern, with a 186-foot diameter and an amazing 45-second natural reverberation period!The instruments played include accordion, trombone, an adjustable didjeridu made of jointed PVC pipe, conch shell, various found metal pieces and pipes, and, of course, voice. The result, with the deep droning reverberation of the performance space, is an ethereal blend of musics, quite impossible to categorise. It is also an amazing listening experience. Some listeners may hear it as New Age (there are similarities with much early Klaus Schulze, despite the absence of any electronics whatsover) whilst others may regard it more as emanating from ancient temples. However you hear it, though, it is absorbing and entrancing; rewarding deep listening, indeed."

And furthermore...

Steve Benner | 07/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great CD - the samples provided

for listening give a solid idea as to what

the full disc sounds like, which is expansive,

trancey, and full of sonic nuances. I can

listen to this and Stuart Dempster's

Underground Overlays - a similar effort - for

days on end. I think this will appeal to those

into extended 'ambient' works most of all, despite

the fact that the music is unprocessed and

acoustic."

Lovely - Music to Sleep By

Christopher Forbes | Brooklyn,, NY | 08/28/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I am only being partially facetious in the title to my review. This is lovely and it is music to sleep by. It is deeply relaxing, and yet rewards careful listening. This is not some somulent ambient experiment by Stephen Halpern. The three musicians on the disc have impeccable credentials. Oliverios has been involved in experimental music since the late 60s, often with spiritual overtones. Stuart Dempster is an expert trombonist, perhaps the best in avant-garde circles. Panaiotis is new to me, but adds a percussive edge that keeps the music going.The disc was recorded in a cistern in Washington State. Using the 45 second echo natural to the space, the three musicians improvise four lovely pieces based on drones. Oliverios plays a specially designed accordian, tuned in just intonation. The sound is deeply meditative and lovely. Weaving in and out of the accordian drone is more melodic music from Dempster, and percussive and vocal sounds from Panaiotis. This is ambient music. You can use it as sonic wall-paper if you want. But it also repays deep listening...repays it well. Thanks as always to New Albion for it's interest in documenting unexplored areas of the music scene. And for it's lovely and spacious sound engineering."