The Tunnel Singer “Cenote”
(private release LES0006, 2006, CD)
Cenote is a welcome return to the pure vocal and natural reverb effects that The Tunnel Singer (Lee Ellen Shoemaker) employed on her earlier releases like Water Birth and Night Skies. She did a commendable job fusing her voice with electronics and post-processing on the 2003 release Sailing The Solar Wind, but that turned out to be borne more out of neccessity while coping with spasmodic dysphonia, a nervous disorder that affected her ability to sing; following effective treatments, she was able to recover and now sings again as before. Seven mid-length tracks in this set find her back in a familiar setting the “Cistern Chapel”, a two million gallon underground cistern in Port Townsend, Washington, that hosts a 45 second natural reverb; because of the strength of that reverb, at any given time the larger part of the rich blanket of voices one will hear are already in various stages of sonic decay, echoing gently back in a mixture of harmonics, with new voice parts being added, or painted over what is altrady there, resulting in haunting, shimmering waves of relaxing near-freeform cloudbursts of tonal color. There’s really not much else like it, although Jim Cole’s Spectral Voices (minus the overtones) comes to mind. A process so simple in fact: sing, listen, sing some more, yet it yields positively breathtaking results.
Peter Thelen (March 2007)
Exposé Magazine "Expanding the Boundaries of Rock"
www.expose.org
Sailing the Solar Wind - December 2003
Lee Ellen Shoemaker, best known for her live ethereal solo vocalizations in caverns and tunnels in the Marin headlands north of San Francisco, is back with her fifth album. Less than a minute into the first track, the astute listener will recognize new sounds that have not been part of her sonic palette before: percussion loops, field recordings, and electronic processing all combine with her voice to make this her most ambitious and forward looking project to date.
The title track which opens the disc begins in familiar territory, but a light percussive loop in the background lends a bit of structure, while electronic processing is employed to alter her voice into new sounds. Vocal samples and other found sounds punctuate the sonic landscape.
Throughout the disc, new sounds are explored, derived from voice processing and sampling, and mixed together in ways that stretch the boundaries of sound, but still remain true to the ambient nature of her previous works. It isn't until the fifth track "Red Red" that the percussion and sample loops and repetitive structures really begin to dominate the sound in a way that hints at techno styles, yet offers enough variation via the samples, voices and intermittent electronic sounds to keep it happening across the ten minute duration.
Over the course of the previous four discs she had essentially done all that can be done with voice and natural reverb alone; this one easily gets beyond that, taking a bold step forward into some new directions.
Peter Thelen (December 2003)
Exposé Magazine "Expanding the Boundaries of Rock"
www.expose.org
The Tunnel Singer
is Lee Ellen Shoemaker, a vocal improviser who has been actively
performing in the San Francisco area for almost a decade, singing
in tunnels, stairwells, parking garages, and other resonant spaces,
utilizing their natural acoustics and reverb as an extension of
her voice.
These three releases
are her recorded output to date. Using no electronics or amplified
instruments, the spaces become instruments in themselves, resulting
in a tonal content that is at once spiritually charged, introspective,
and relaxing.
What on the surface
seems to be utterly simple is hauntingly beautiful and acoustically
complex. One might recall Paul Horn's "Inside" or
the work of Gilbert Artman's Urban Sax as reference points for
this kind of acoustic work, but applied instead to the female
voice. There are no lyrics, and there are no compositions -
it's all on-the-spot improvisation.
There are a number
of bunkers and tunnels in the Marin headlands north of San Francisco
that were built during World War II in anticipation of an attack,
but were ultimately never used. These tunnels remain, there
are many of them, each which has it's own unique acoustic properties.
Each Sunday at
noon, Shoemaker performs live in one of these tunnels - Construction
129. For "Ravens in Moonlight" she is joined at Construction
129 by two other musicians on didgeridoo, hand drums, bells,
and other percussion. The resulting collaboration offers an
often trance-like sound weighing in somewhere between Dead Can
Dance and Trance Mission.
"Inner Runes",
on the other hand, was recorded live in the Sound Column of
the Exploratorium, at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Art. Using
only solo voice and occasional Tibetan bowls, the resulting
effects are stark and stunning. Sometimes it almost seems as
if some electronic sounds and processing were involved, but
we know better because Shoemaker is an an acoustic purist.
"Water Birth"
is perhaps the most intriguing of the three recordings, and
definitely the most meditative. This one was recorded live in
the 'Cistern Chapel' at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Washington,
a 2-million gallon cistern that has a 45-second natural acoustic
reverberation. Voices ebb and flow, blending and bending with
the natural acoustics that shape the tones, drifting slowly
from a complex chordal purity to what could best be described
as gray noise.
The slow movement
and evolution of the sounds suggests an underwater environment,
and the slow currents and undulations therein, hence the title.
Like "Inner Runes", the primary source is entirely
solo vocal with no accompaniment. This is one of those discs
you put on and just float away with.
Definitely check
out the website for the story on how this one was recorded,
and to hear some audio samples. All three discs are definitely
worth owning and come highly recommended.
Peter
Thelen (1999)
Exposé Magazine "Expanding the Boundaries of Rock"
www.expose.org
|
