MOG

Meredith Monk - Impermanence
(ECM New Music, 2008)
6 out of 10

Meredith Monk has created works of beauty and challenge in every decade since (and including) the 1960s. She is a Monster of Ostinato-Laden New Music but is not exactly a minimalist; as new music hierarchies go, she should probably be placed above the living gods (Glass, Riley and Reich) and maybe even the other underdogs (Adams, Part and... well, Adams) for her consistency in both quality and vitality. Her "problem," of course, is that she's a woman who uses formidable extended vocal technique to honk, holler, whoop, cackle, mumble, needle, intone and, lest we forget, sing. For all of the singing in her music, each song cycle she debuts, to the delight of a relatively small audience, contains approximately 20 English words on average; every other utterance shall do with a non-lingual syllable. All this is to say: I love her music; others "appreciate" it, so I find myself a little bit lonely on this one. Needless to say, I do not mind, though I just might prosthelytize all the same.

It's been six years since her last major (in stature, not key) cycle, Mercy, and Impermanence seems to be formed essentially from altered blueprints created for Mercy; therefore it will be useful to compare them more than I would compare this to another work of hers. Impermanence is major in form, but minor in effect, especially to someone such as I, once and continuing to be struck by the effect of Mercy. She uses the same arrangement techniques here: piano, woodwinds, and eccentric percussion, with an ensemble of vocalists starring herself. Mercy is more epic, enigmatic, beguiling; Impermanence is slighter, "odder," more personal. It occasionally reaches similar heights of the ethereal, but the overall effect is more distant and light as opposed to the deep, dark pool that is Mercy.

The solo-Monk voice-and-piano number "Last Song" opens Impermanence, which, in case you haven't guessed, is overall focused loosely around the titular idea. Making a work about death and the temporary nature of all things has led her, strangely enough (or maybe not so strangely), to a more playful place. "Last Song" is one of the two songs that go beyond the playful stage into something evocative of more. Over a characteristically warm minor-key piano motif, her voice dances in an even more characteristic fashion around phrases based on the word "last" ("last dance/ last chance/ lalalalalast/ last minute/ last miniminiminiminimini..."). The second song that comes to fruition is an ensemble piece called "Liminal," in which 11 minutes are spent over variations on an ostinato for piano and marimba, while voices and percussive elements pointillistically drop in and out and clarinet lines slither in and out. Too many subtle surprises occur during "Liminal" to name them all; as a stand-alone song, it is one of those reasons to keep following her work.

This is not to say there aren't reasons throughout the disc. "Maybe 1" and "Maybe 2," for instance, are lovely instrumental and a capella takes, respectively, on the same Arabic-flavored contrapuntal exercise; "Particular Dance" is a very bent and joyful dance not unlike a sort of, er, particular, vocal-driven take on Dave Brubeck's timing experiments, although it also is quite less unlike the superior "Urban March (Light)" from Mercy. Other experiments fail to fully engage, like the too-silly "Skeleton Lines" (here she truly seems to be making gibberish sounds; so rarely does that seem to be the case with her), or "Between Song," featuring too many lyrics that seem to be reaching awkwardly for the sake of concept.

Even these lighter-baked ideas, though, don't displease a Monk follower like myself. Nonetheless, before recommending Impermanence, I'd go with Mercy or Book of Days (1990), or for the more adventurous, Turtle Dreams (1983); the title piece is 18 minutes of organ and voice-quartet, and it is Meredith at her most enthralling. Once you've explored it all, Impermanence will catch you up and you'll most likely be left looking forward to her next work.

-Spencer Owen

(Incidentally, that's called Songs of Ascension and should debut sooner than six years from now... specifically, the 2008-09 touring season.)