Architectonic by Adrian Ivakhiv / vax
A short album of piano pieces that got left out elsewhere: primarily improvisations in a Keith Jarrettish vein (with some Don Pullen style wildness thrown in) and a couple of "tintinnabular" meditations (the last two pieces; the term and style is Arvo Pärt's). Recorded sometime between 2006 and 2012. Given the performance imperfections, I've decided to offer these downloads for the cheap price of a buck. Let me know if you like any and it will encourage me to put out more.
Note: I reversed the order of the last two pieces on December 30, 2019; "Actual Occasion" sounded more final, more like an album closer, than "Prehension." (It's also mixed pretty high, so I might remix it when I get a chance. And it's more "distempered" than any other track on the album, which makes it a bit more of a glacial erratic in this context--which is what I was tempted to call it before realizing it was supposed to be called "Actual Occasion.")
Both "Actual Occasion" and "Prehension" take their titles from the process-relational metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead, though I think I was reading Whitehead through a Gurdjieffian lens at the time. But I think you don't have to know the philosophical meanings of the terms to grasp the titles here.
Tracklist
| 1. | Hedonism | 3:56 |
| 2. | Symptom | 3:16 |
| 3. | Obsession | 9:04 |
| 4. | Wander | 1:37 |
| 5. | Pursuit | 6:10 |
| 6. | Fantasy | 3:19 |
| 7. | Prehension | 2:20 |
| 8. | Actual Occasion | 2:45 |
Credits
License
All rights reserved.
Adrian Ivakhiv (ee-VAHKH-eev) has worked in multiple genres including electroacoustic, chamber, choral, avant-rock, free improv, ambient, and experimental composition. He has made electronic music under the alias "vax" (pronounced "vah(kh)") since the 1980s, and conducted the St. Nicholas Choir in Toronto from 1987 to 2000. He lives by the Salish Sea. More info at blog (first link below).