Two sets of music by Chik White, an alias of Darcy Spidle, whose Nova Scotia-based Divorce Records has been slinging LPs of sonic bemusement since 1999. Jaw Works is made up of solo jaw harp performances, wringing mesmerizing detail from variations in rhythm and tempo, while achieving a wide variety of barely believable, almost synthesized-sounding timbres. Behind A Dead Tree On The Shore also features the jaw harp, albeit in concert with the North Atlantic Ocean, which inspired the more minimal, rhythmic pieces performed on the shore. Organic and personal, this is folk music created by a single person in his environment, using the most basic of musical tools. "The immense, magical strangeness of the jaw harp – man, that twanging, cartoonish sproing – fuels this release. It’s essentially a series of brief exercises. On Side A, the Nova Scotia-based White cycles through variations on his daily practice; on Side B, he improvises along a shoreline. Since each track is no briefer than 50 seconds and no longer than four minutes, a game freshness reigns and there is never a sense that the artist is repeating himself: the coiled spritely bounce of “Hiding In A Dead Tree” is as distinct from the breathy, fading hesitancy of “Dreamer’s Words” or the steady, strident vibrations of “Dreamer’s Question.” White’s tones sidle from hypnagogic to inquisitive to – in the case of “Cliff Collapsing Slowly” – downright cybernetic, the echoed thrumming contrasting deliciously with the ceaseless crash and dispersion of waves. “Meditative” is a descriptor that’s thrown around a lot in experimental or drone music, but it’s rarely this earned, even as a crepuscular unease lurks at the edges of this cassette." - Cassettegods   ---   Artwork, layout by E. Lindorff-ElleryPrinted by Minuteman Press

"At last! The long-promised duo LP by two undisputed masters of post-tongue instrumental gesticulation and invention. Augured by their eponymous 7” from 2019, Off Motion is a full-length exploration of the previously unknown aural destinations these two guys continually discover as they move beyond the borders of music-as-it-is-played. Often, when writing about music, it's possible to draw comparisons to players' stylistic relationships to what has gone before. But the music on Off Motion (to quote a William Burroughs chestnut), “buggers comparison.” Nace's style on electric guitar may have its roots somewhere in the playing of Keith Rowe, but the sonic scapes he conjures are so nimbly freaked, I can rarely figure out what the hell he is doing (if anything) to generate what I'm hearing. And White's avant garde approach to the jaw harp (as well, I think, nose flute and maybe even bird call) has so few precedents apart from random Fluxus events, it's impossible to make any inferences as to possible influences. This duo lives up to the promise of ESP-Disk's motto as much as anyone I can think of. You have never heard such sounds in your life. The seven pieces on Off Motion are hard to unravel. Chik sent recordings to Bill. Nace added his own bits. Then he and Emily Robb screwed around with everything until it pulsed with sheer mystery. I took a lot of notes on the tracks, but the best ones are hard for even me to decode. For “Pathways” -- starts with pixie twinkle guitar, then evolves into a duet for Taishōgoto and nose flute that sounds as though it was designed to drive dogs nuts while they search for phantom, mocking squirrels. For “Erasing” -- like a troubled pigeon visiting a guy who uses an electric razor while bouncing around on Slinky-shoes, before switching into carillon-based boots and breaking into a human pinball routine he's been practicing since he was a boy. I repeat these descriptions only to show how entirely Bill & Chik's music resists easy categorization. There is a sense at times the studio/mixing board itself is being used as an instrument, which is very cool. But I am still jonesing to see these guys do some live shows. Both Bill and Chik have the ability to mix jocularity and seriousness into a strangely compelling whole. Their music is bizarre as hell without being off-putting or sterile, and anyone who has a taste for weird thrills is gonna love Off Motion to death. Tell Alice Cooper the news." -- Byron Coley

Darcy Spidle (chik white) explores the fugitive spaces in and around his home in Chezzetcook (Nova Scotia), mapping a multi-faceted aural topography with his mouth and various objects. In the old outhouse in his shed he plays some mouth harp, regurgitating his emotions in a series of spasms and tightly controlled muscle flexes. Over in the humble cold porch he treats us to a bit of yodelling that borders both the beautiful and the absurd. Along by the mailboxes down the street a little strip of cove becomes a temporary space for some bird nose flute recordings, whilst back on his property he picks up electronic magnet field recordings using a handy Soma Ether V2. Recordings of the utility box in his driveway and the fuse box in his basement seem to be haunted by the ghost of Merzbow, but we'll leave that problem to Nova Scotia's parapsychologists. In short, in Darcy's own words... "if I can't leave home, I figure I can at least expand my limited location by exploring the multiple realms of sound all around me. All this to say, the album is really a meditation on place..."     ...   All music written & recorded by Chik White   ---     Mastered by Oliver Barrett   '207' was originally commissioned by Kraak Records for their Spring Brakers video series.