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Being to Being
by Tim Gerwing
Channel Eau Communications, 2002
http://www.dreamwindow.net/lascaux21
http://www.channeleau.com
This album by Canadian ambient artist Tim Gerwing can definitely be called
"high-concept." For starters, the title on the CD label seems to be written
in Greek, and only if you look closely will you see the real title, in tiny
type. The other side of the label features untranslated poetry in Arabic and
Greek script. Right away, you know you are in challenging global territory.
The high-concept continues in the album itself. It opens with recitations
of the Greek and Arabic poems, set against a somber, low-volume background
played on Middle Eastern wind instruments. (The translations are available
on the "dreamwindow" Webpage.) Spoken word is a big part of this album, and
that's already a risky proposition, even more when it is in a language most
of us don't understand. But throughout the album Gerwing manages to pull
this off - first, because of the gentle, sometimes even sensuous quality of
the reciting voices, then, because of the beautiful intrinsic sounds of the
languages themselves, and last, because of his respectful, unobtrusive
arrangements accompanying the voices. Thankfully, unlike many other current
ambient composers, he keeps his voices easily audible, and does not
electronically modify them into grating, barely heard whispers.
Being to Being isn't just a "world word" album, though. The tracks
range through a variety of styles, from mildly mechanical pop (track 2,
"Whenever You're Ready" and track 5, "Suns") to minimalist techno (track 3,
"Wheel"), to trip-hop-influenced overtone-singing (track 6, "Fire"). In
between, in track 4, Gerwing returns to the spoken word with a Chinese lady
sweetly reciting something (in Chinese) from Lao Tzu, accompanied by
"Oriental" bells, which builds to a moody synthesizer melody backed by a
Euro-sequencer sound. This rendition is quite reminiscent of Vangelis'
famous 1979 China, and you will find a few more echoes of Vangelis
elsewhere on this album.
As Being to Being progresses, Gerwing moves into a more abstract
space, and in my opinion this is where the album really begins to shine. A
trilogy of purely electronic meditations, "Bowl of Light I, II, and III"
fill the air with an understated sonic perfume. They are my favorite tracks
on the album - remote, mystical, and delicate.
The next spoken word track on the album is in English; it is a clip from a
sermon by the twentieth century philosophical guru J.G. Bennett, a disciple
of the controversial Near Eastern mystic, George I. Gurdjieff. Bennett
rambles on earnestly about humanity, compassion, and "high purpose," while
Gerwing sends forth electric guitar echoes in the background. A drum
sequence follows, on the Indian tabla (the bongo of choice for mystical
spirituality), and then the last spoken word track, chanted in Sanskrit (the
language of Eastern mysticism).
Once the Sanskrit is done, on the last track, Gerwing returns to what he
does best, quiet synthesizer ambient, complete with comforting sounds of
birdsong. The high-concept and the foreign words are only as good as the
musical sound that accompanies and follows them, and
Being to Being wins the listener over not because of its global
diversity or its verbal content but because of its skillful and appealing
music.
Hannah M.G. Shapero
2/1/03
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