PLAY by Wooden Cities
Four years after the release of their debut album, WORK, Buffalo-based new music collective Wooden Cities returns with their second release, PLAY. Embracing lighter, more whimsical subject matter than its predecessor, the album leans into the playful—and occasionally volatile—absurdity that regional audiences will know from the ensemble's live performances.
The album is structured around four realizations from Baltimore composer Will Redman's graphic score magnum opus, Book. In these spirited interpretations, the musicians survey a range of textures from dense, sinewy counterpoint to threadbare pianissimos, while always taking advantage of the piece's deeply-rooted expressive freedom.
The remainder of the album explores three lively sound poetry pieces, beginning with a riotous four-voice arrangement of Berlin Dadaist Kurt Schwitters' Ribble Bobble Pimlico. The band ludicrously alternates between reassuring whispers and clamorous chants while articulating the titular nonsensical words in ever-sillier combinations. This vein of exploration continues on two pieces by members of the ensemble: trombonist Ethan Hayden's setting of an excerpt of Gertrude Stein's poem "In", and violinist Evan Courtin's setting of Marina Blitshteyn's "Good Form," the latter a darkly comic rendering of a discomfiting interior monologue.
Formed in 2011 as a structured improv orchestra, Wooden Cities has since garnered a reputation for their dynamic performances of both improvised and notated works of new and experimental music from a wide variety of composers. PLAY is the second in a trilogy of albums (WORK/PLAY/REST), with the third coming in 2024.
Tracklist
Credits
Recorded July 23 & 25, 2018 at the University at Buffalo
Engineered, edited, mixed, and mastered by Chris Jacobs
Co-edited by Ethan Hayden, Evan Courtin, and Brendan Fitzgerald
Wooden Cities would like to thank:
Chris Jacobs, Mani Mehrvarz, and Will Redman.
Performed by
Megan Kyle, oboe
Ethan Hayden, trombone/voice
Brendan Fitzgerald, guitar/percussion/voice
Nicholas Emmanuel, piano
Evan Courtin, violin/voice
T.J. Borden, cello
Katie Weissman, cello/voice
Art direction and layout by Megan Kyle
Front/back cover design by Ethan Hayden
License
CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.Tags
Wooden Cities is a Buffalo-based ensemble seeking to help increase the performance of contemporary music in Western New York. Formed in 2011 as a structured improv orchestra, Wooden Cities has since garnered a reputation for their dynamic performances of both improvised and notated works of new and experimental music from a wide variety of composers.