David Maranha - Circunscrita
(Namskeio)
When held up against the Theatre of Eternal Music presentations of La Monte Young, Marian
Zazeela, and company, many minimalist drone efforts come across like supper-club
productions. Eternal music requires patience. You have to be willing to surrender yourself
to the almighty drone, a demanding mistress if ever there was one. David Maranha, along
with brother André and Patricia Machiás, curates Osso Exótico, Portugal's long-running
response to Young's New York-based MELA Foundation. OE has explored all manners of
droneological implements, ranging from church organs to glass bottles, over the course
numerous albums. David Maranha's last solo effort was an exceptional specimen of
piano-string drone ("excited," a la Arnold Dreyblatt or Phil Niblock) that shimmered in
timeless suspension. Circunscrita reunites Maranha and Machiás with guitarist Manuel M.
Mota, João Lopes, and Simão Varela in a more multihued instrumental-drone communion.
Maranha's violin and Machiás' harmonium are the basis for the disc's dozen numbered,
otherwise untitled compositions. Their complementary hum-and-hover harmonics and overtones
are all one hears in the opening piece and in Machiás' "#3." As the other instruments
enter, the sound quickly thickens and broadens. Lopes' bass drum and double bass are
surprisingly prominent, lending their lumbering pulse to the moire of meshed microtones in
"#2," "#11," and "#6." Varela's Hammond organ is also a distinct color, with a vibrant
electronic character quite discernable from Machiás' bellows-driven harmonium. Mota's
rough strokes seem distracting when first encountered, imitating crude tape effects in
"#4." Once integrated, however, his contributions do help to differentiate the tracks'
timbral swirls without falling into predictable patterns. Mota's composition "#7" also
stands out, breaking up the ensemble's massed overtones with rhythmic slashes of near
minimal-techno deliberateness. The remaining compositions (all by Maranha) work fresh
wrinkles into the fabric of Circunscrita's unifying drone, often with beautiful results.
"#8" and "#10" are especially euphonious, while the Marnaha/Machiás interplay of "#9" is
reminiscent of the Deep Listening Band's unique organic-acoustic alchemy.
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