The Seven Storey Mountain [2011]

by Chris Corsano, C. Spencer Yeh, Nate Wooley

Overview

The first album with the title The Seven Storey Mountain found Nate Wooley working with British improviser Paul Lytton and avant rocker David Grubbs; on the second (in what Wooley plans to be a series of albums under the same title), Wooley is teamed up with C. Spencer Yeh and Chris Corsano to explore what he calls "the same basic ideas (tape manipulation, long forms with simple written musical directions, an attempt to reach some sort of musical ecstaticism)," but with different musicians. He certainly succeeds at exploring tape manipulation and long forms: the album's single 43-minute track is a pastiche of drones and feedback and apparently random noises. Whether ecstasy is achieved is a different question. The piece opens with drones that fade in and out at various pitches; eventually, small clouds of hisses and static start billowing up, while a higher-pitched drone sets up shop in the background. These slowly morph into the sound of a very small zombie muttering to itself while dragging its feet reluctantly across a sand-covered floor. Then the soundscape begins to turn more eerie: the muttering zombie dwarf has become a crowd, and the crowd is edgy. But it stays that way for a very long time, never erupting into full-on violence, grumbling irritably until the drones return and cool everything out again. It would be interesting to know whether Wooley considered this installment in the series to be a success; for some listeners, it may seem more like a pile of slightly interesting noises that never add up to anything coherent enough to be worth listening to twice. ~ Rick Anderson

Product Details

Release Date:	06/14/2011
Label:	Important Records
UPC:	0793447533025

Tracks

1. The Seven Storey Mountain

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Nate Wooley   Primary Artist,Tape
Chris Corsano   Primary Artist,Drums
C. Spencer Yeh   Primary Artist,Violin

Technical Credits

Jeremiah Cymerman   Engineer,Mixing
The Wyvern   Artwork,Design
Mell Dettmer   Mastering