Berlin-based composer and guitarist
Maya Shenfeld has played in punk bands as well as classical and new music ensembles, and her debut album reflects her experience working in several different formations and contexts. Her music is structured and disciplined without being too stiff and formal, and there's a sense of free-spirited wonder in the way she fuses techniques and explores tones and timbres. Both the opening and closing pieces on
In Free Fall seem to deconstruct horn fanfares, with "Cataphora" stretching notes out to layered drones and gradually corroding them with distortion, and "Anaphora" employing measured repetitions submerged in glowing echo. "Mountain Larkspur," a collaboration with
James Ginzburg of
Emptyset, is the album's most abrasive, anarchic collision of organic and synthetic elements. The piece reworks a recording of
the Bethanien Youth Choir singing in an abandoned swimming pool during a rehearsal for one of
Shenfeld's commissioned works.
Shenfeld and
Ginzburg smear the already bleary voices in static and glimmering synths, recalling some of
Tim Hecker's work with choirs, although this doesn't get as harsh or wintry. "Body, Electric" is a synthesizer piece that focuses on clear, rippling arpeggios which seem to dive into the patiently flowing waves, producing an effect that is both jubilant and serenely ruminative. While other pieces on the album are richer, more melodic, and seem to breathe easily, "Silver" feels like an object that's being singed until it gradually emits thick, gaseous clouds of smoke and turns into a hunk of coal.
Shenfeld's debut blurs lines between post-minimalism, drone, noise, progressive electronic, and ambient. Its nonconformity is a major part of why it's so captivating and refreshing, but even beyond that, it's simply a joyous listening experience. ~ Paul Simpson
