Fill out the form below to receive the latest news about upcoming LINE editions and projects.

Doublends Vert

Cistern

Cistern was made in a two million gallon underground reservoir at Fort Worden, a de-commissioned military base overlooking the entrance to the Puget Sound. The space’s resonance extended the instruments in a way similar to electronic processing. The acoustic properties of the cistern created new sonic relationships to which the group applied their musical concept. Cistern captures Doublends Vert’s first experiences in the sound-world of the cistern. Doublends Vert formed in 2003 through a common interest in creating restrained, acoustic music exploring the timbre blending possibilities of the violin, accordion, and clarinet.

Bandcamp Apple Music TIDAL Reviews
Catalog:
LINE_024
Format:
CD
Edition:
500
Release:
November 2005
Tracklist:
  1. 1 (07:21)
  2. 2 (05:32)
  3. 3 (07:08)
  4. 4 (08:54)
  5. 5 (05:25)
  6. 6 (07:59)

Doublends Vert:
Clarinetist Adam Diller‘s (b. 1980) music deals with the problems of composing for recorded medium, integrating electronic and acoustic sounds, and improvising with social and natural environments. His process draws on experience with jazz, composition, improvisation, and computer-based sound design. Since moving to Seattle in 2002, Diller has performed in many situations and produced 10 recordings.

Annie Lewandowski (b. 1979) is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with backgrounds in classical, improvised, and experimental music. She has performed at festivals in the USA, Canada, and Europe with trio Doublends Vert and duo Emma Zunz (with Cristin Miller). She currently lives in Seattle.

Tom Swafford (b. 1972) is violinist and composer active in a wide variety of musical styles. He studied composition in Boston, Berkeley, CA, and The Netherlands (with Louis Andriessen). He is a member of Cipher, Drumolin and Doublends Vert and also performs classical, bluegrass and rock music. He resides in Seattle, WA.

Matt Crane joins on timbales for cistern tracks 4 and 5 and engineered this live recording. Crane has been playing drums from an early age. His profound interest in music has translated into the study of many different idioms. He currently engages in many improvised settings with an emphasis on environment and its shaping of the musical experience.

REVIEWS OF
Cistern

  • Registrato in una cisterna sotterranea nella base militare abbandonata di Fort Warden (Washington) e senza ausilio alcuno di sofisticati sistemi di produzione ed elaborazione digitale del suono, l’album degli americani Doublends Vert rappresenta uno scarto netto e significativo nelle politiche produttive dell’etichetta di Richard Chartier. Realizzato interamente con strumenti acustici (violino, fisarmonica, clarinetti, timbales), il materiale di Tom Swafford e soci sfrutta semplicemente le caratteristiche morfologiche del serbatoio che arrivano a sostituire le funzioni del processing elettronico, espandendo e smagliando il suono in un vibrare minimalista di armonici fissi e sostenuti fino a rasentare l’asciutta bellezza di talune opere di Morton Feldman e della Deep Listening Band di Pauline Oliveros. (7) 
    (Blow Up, IT)

  • … On the Line label comes the true surprise. Doublends Vert is a quartet of musicians who play violin, accordion, timbales and clarinet. No computer processing, no glitch and that is something of a change in the label’s work so far. The work was recorded in a two million gallon underground reservoir in Fort Worden. The natural reverb of the space acts as it’s own electronic processing and at such it’s not strange that is released by Line. The players (Adam Diller, Annie Lewandowski, Tom Swafford and Matt Crane) play six pieces of improvised music (I assume) in which the sustain of sounds is important. On each of the four instruments they play stretched out tones that sound out beyond their decay. It’s almost classical music, along the lines of Arvo Part or Morton Feldman, but an influence of Pauline Oliveros can also be traced. It’s a most powerful recording, even when it doesn’t sound noise related. It’s a beautiful disc of sustaining sounds, slowly bent music. If your christmas wallet calls for just one of these four new 12k/LINE CDs, I’d say go for this one. It’s a most pleasant surprise.
    (Vital Weekly, NL)

  • Doublends Vert provide LINE’s first acoustic-based album. And what a splendid piece of work it. They are a four piece act that use violin, accordion, clarinets and timbales to create dense, musical textures and soundscapes and Cistern was recorded in a two million gallon underground reservoir in Fort Worden, Washington. The sonic acoustics of the environment add a striking quality to an already amazing sound and the processed nature of the music is heady, intense and incredibly hypnotic. The instruments used create a semi-classical feel to the music and this theme recurs throughout. Melodic, for the most part, and arranged (albeit in an improvised fashion) to perfection, there’s a cohesive sound to everything that keeps it flowing. At times it soars and uplifts and at others it haunts you… surely the sign of a good album. Possibly one of the most accessible releases so far on LINE and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Recommended? You bet. With knobs on.
    (Smallfish, UK)