Thursday 17 October 2013, 8pm
Duane Pitre makes a very welcome return to Cafe OTO following a stand-out sextet performance of his last album 'Feel Free' last summer - a recording of which is shortly to be released on Important Records and will available on the night.
Blurring the lines between acoustic and electronic, structure and spontaneity, Pitre has rapidly crafted a sound all his own that resulted in him sitting high among the best-of lists from last year. New album 'Bridges' builds on the immersive tonal structures of 'Feel Free' with new connections that expand on Pitre's use of space without limiting the hypnotically enveloping density of previous work.
Also on the bill are Lyon duo Kaumwald, who create a thickly effervescent sonic concoction of synths, tapes, vocals and feedback, as well as a solo improvisation from London-based cellist Oliver Barrett.
DUANE PITRE
Duane Pitre is an American avant-garde composer, performer, and sound artist. His work often focuses on the interaction between electronic sound and acoustic instrumentation, chaos and discipline, as well as site-specificity. The composer also utilizes alternate tuning schemes that focus on microtonality, enabling him to explore unaccustomed intervallic relationships. He has created works for various instrumentation configurations such as string orchestra, his own bowed harmonic-guitar ensemble, string/wind ensembles, as well as solo works (for himself).
Pitre’s 2012 album, Feel Free, received critical acclaim and was included on several ‘best of’ lists, including being named #37 on The Wire’s ‘2012 Rewind’ (out of their top 50 releases); #34 on The Wire’s ‘Subscribers’ Releases of the Year’ list; and #8 on Uncut Magazine’s ‘Wild Mercury Sound Top 112 of 2012’ list. In addition, 'The Out Door,' Pitchfork’s experimental-minded column included Feel Free on its ‘Best of 2012: The Big Four’ list. The album was also included in several year-end lists for Dusted Magazine and many other blogs. A live recording of his summer 2012 sextet performance of Feel Free at Café OTO will be released on Important Records to coincide with this performance and Pitre's extended European tour.
Pitre will be performing solo on this tour and his set will use themes and elements from Bridges, in conjunction with brand-new material that utilizes analog and digital synthesizers (all re-tuned in Just Intonation) and probability-based systems, controlled via computer. A sample of this material can be heard/seen in the live video excerpt below, from a recent performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. His performance will also have a visual element, in the form of a video projection(s).
He has presented and performed his live works across the U.S., U.K., and Europe at spaces such as Café OTO, Roulette, The Stone, Muziekhuis Utrecht, MoMA’s P.S.1, Les Ateliers Claus, St. Ann’s Cathedral, and ISSUE Project Room (where the Jerome Foundation provided funding for his spring 2009 Artist in Residency). He has received commissions for new works by ISSUE Project Room, the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, and Roulette, among others. More than 100 unique musicians from around the world have taken part in the performances of his works.
"[it] might be the most listenable probability-based music that I have heard … it is the blurring of computer and human into a single woozy, soft-focus middle ground that is Duane's real masterstroke … Feel Free is a weirdly perfect piece of music … it can probably be endlessly looped without ever becoming boring." Brainwashed on Feel Free
Duane Pitre - Feel Free: Live at Cafe OTO from Duane Pitre on Vimeo.
"A Lyon duo officiating in the register of a very dark mid-mid-industrial electronic music, abrasive but always the most exciting. Kaumwald recently posted Hantasive, beautiful recording of only four titles - but what songs!" Heavy Mental (on 'Hantasive')
