Rendition

Peaks Distort

Rendition create a sound that is restrained in tone, but unfettered in scope. As improvisation it is avant-garde, but it remains more ethereal than cerebral, more exploratory than explosive. Each performance offers a cinematic score to accompany the images it evokes. Guitar player Mark Brunke utilizes an assortment of effects to produce a palette of textures that lend a depth and breadth to the soundscape. His contributions range from murky ambience to pointed pronouncements. Cellist Ruth Davidson employs a clean and clear tone to become the melodic center. Sometimes adding percussive elements or unexpected sounds, they also produce the soaring and searing lead lines. Steven Arbuckle sits behind a standard drum kit, but behaves more as a percussionist. Playing off of the drums more than on them, he serves as metronome for an ensemble which does not keep time. This piece was composed as it was performed, and was designed to allow for an ebb and flow of dynamics. Listeners can expect group movements to give way to solo moments, and individual excursions to bloom into collective actions.

1. Peaks Distort

Mastered by Tom Dyer

Hymnal

You will, no doubt, recognize Rendition as the band on Sally Barry’s Rendition album and 2019s jolly GMR Xmas album. On this one there is no Sally, just bandmates Mark Brunke and Ruth Davidson improvising in Mark’s backyard. You can hear the crows. Recorded outside, socially distanced, with a Blue Snowball mic recording into Audacity onto a single stereo track. No overdubs. The sound balance was achieved solely by positioning the amplifiers, one about one foot away, the other about three feet away from the microphone. Sent to me to master. Boom. Recorded Sunday, released Friday. I think it is excellent!

1. Legion
2. The Murders of Crow
3. Hemiplegia