'soft metals' is a stunning collection of expansive solo metallophone performances that will transport you. Percussionist Ben Brown (Pugs & Crows, Cast, Malleus Trio), and producer, Chris Gestrin, create a vast and surprising sonic landscape from this single instrument. The music emerged from Brown’s weekly practice of accompanying yoga classes and evolved into a substantial body of solo instrumental work.
“Recorded during the isolation and confusion of COVID-19 lockdown life, the hope was for this music to help people find a moment of calm, of escape, of wonder.”
- Ben Brown
I’ve been playing solo metallophone and guitar every Friday night at stretch yoga studio in Vancouver’s Chinatown since 2016. These sessions are completely improvised. Mostly the music is there to support the practice, some positions long and arduous, others gentle and released. On a good night I feel we are one school of fish moving together towards some shimmering light above us where the water meets the open sky. Blue. Other nights it’s an uphill battle. Sometimes I feel trapped in a cage of my own repetitive ideas and ego. Every week I look forward to throwing the dice. Can we make another beautiful journey together? How far can we go this time? During the lockdown I returned to the studio, but this time to document these musical journeys with a recording. The fear of covid felt thick in the air. We lived online. In the studio I now played to an audience of two; one microphone placed close to me and one far away. Like some party trick hypnosis, at first I tried to will my way back Into that sympathetic sponge like state between my music and a room full of yogis - now imaginary bodies in space. Tracing silhouettes of memories past. How did we do things before? What do we do now? How will we move forward? Is this it? The space was empty and for a moment, so was the music. Then I began to listen to the space. Few spaces are so generous. Each note is greeted with such warmth and resonance. It is here I let go of the anxiety, confusion and fear of Covid, of my life. The studio became my harbour, the recording sessions my ship. Together, we took this uncertainty and turned it into sound. The microphones were there to capture this transformation. Both near and far. New and old. In a way, I’ve come full circle. As a boy, my Mom taught me Orff at Langley community music school using this same metallophone. This music is dedicated to the memory of my friend Siobhan.
credits
released November 25, 2022
Ben Brown : metallophone
Recorded at stretch Vancouver in Chinatown December 10th and 11th 2021. The music was played live and, with a few exceptions, was improvised.
processed, produced, mixed and mastered by Chris Gestrin
Thank you to my Mom who taught me on this same metallophone when I was a child, my Dad, Roxanne, Emmanuelle, Boyd, Amanda, Sebastian and Jasmine, my teachers Katie Duck, Evelyn Glennie, George Marsh, Sina Shalbaf, Tiaga Prem and Chris Gestrin for believing in the music.
This music is dedicated to the memory of my friend Siobhan.
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