Bassist and composer Ro(b)//ert Lundberg’s new album, by-passing-upon, continues what he called on his Bandcamp page “my long-running watery fascinations, here with a central fixation on the curb stop”, referring to the small metal covers in sidewalks and yards covering the shutoff valve in a water pipe flowing to a building. Curb stops also mark the division between state- and privately owned pipes, serving as a physical manifestation of property lines. In a sense, by-passing-upon not only recognizes the pooling and flowing of water, but it also acknowledges boundaries – both real and imaginary.
Perhaps one of Lundberg’s best-known musical affiliations is his role as one-quarter of the New York-based experimental band JOBS, who notoriously and brilliantly shake up standard conventions. The band’s curious and adventurous nature clearly carries over into this solo project, recorded live at Chicago’s experimental music venue, Constellation. With double bass, cello, clarinet, drums, synthesizer, masking tape, and water-filled vessels, by-passing-upon mixes ambient textures with water-like manifestations. The performance includes graphic and notated scores and stage props, a genuine multidisciplinary event that still packs a punch when experienced solely as audio.
Joining Lundberg are Chicago-based musicians Lia Kohl on cello and synthesizer, Jeff Kimmel on bass clarinet and synthesizer, and Sam Scranton on percussion, as well as movement artists Nina Vroemen, Jasmine Mendoza, and Zachary Nicol (who unfurl tape, shake vessels, and unleash spray bottles and boiling kettles). Neatly sectioned off into four parts, the album begins with long, sustained drones on “pooling 1”, before a steady beat rises underneath, becoming insistent and unforgiving.
Lundberg chose this particular ensemble to perform the piece not only for their musical talent but also for their intuitive and improvisational nature. “While the score provides fairly circumscribed pitch and rhythmic material,” they explained, “I chose my collaborators knowing they would thrive in these bounds – and occasionally ignore them to wonderful effect.” Clearly, in the epic “flowing 1”, as the cello and bass clarinet wind their way through the opening section with varying degrees of pitch, the steady beat that follows tends to stomp about in a way that suggests dedication to the piece while also gleefully bouncing around into flights of fancy as the mood hits them.
“pooling 2” is a more meditative (and far shorter) piece, consisting almost entirely of long, sustained notes in a dark, ambient atmosphere, possibly suggesting the consistent flow of water. However, in the final (and lengthiest) piece, “flowing 2”, the repetitive beats lie underneath the drones in a manner that might suggest Steve Reich’s epochal minimalistic works. The music, like liquid, flows freely but also drips in an initially steady pattern. Hearing these patterns gradually shift in tone and instrumentation over the course of 17 minutes shows the imagination and improvisational skill of the musicians Ro(b)//ert Lundberg has assembled.
by-passing-upon is one of those interdisciplinary, multi-format works that succeed on every level. As a visual experience, multiple senses are activated. As a solely aural piece, it’s still vastly liberating and enormously moving.
Chris Ingalls
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