Vertice is a selection of archival recordings from Marina Rosenfeld and Ben Vida. Recorded at Fridman Gallery in January 2016 and May 2019, their free-improvisation performances are wild in their eclecticism, and no performance is ever the same.
The duo are also due to perform back to back on July 9th as part of SO? OS, (SOLOS), a series of weekly, live streamed performances from the gallery. Operating within New York City’s shelter-in-place guidelines, it promises to morph the gallery into ‘a space of limit as possibility.’ The series will run until July 30.
International experimental music is something that the gallery is looking to promote – one of its main missions is to ‘help restore a creative, experimental spirit on the ground floor level of downtown Manhattan’, and this release is another step in the right direction, further reinforcing their statement.
Kaleidoscopic sounds and swirling textures are a feature of ‘Any Landscape’, which boldly reveals their musical mission. On Vertice , anything and everything is a potential instrument. Although this could lead to a disrupted record, the individual sounds are carefully curated and there is a clear mastery in their control over such diverse sounds. Saying that, the music feels independent, with an individual sentience and intelligence that distances itself from that of its parents.
The music is free to move and explore the surroundings, which gives the music a playful air, but the duo keep an eye on its progress at all times. Like its title, Side B’s ‘Branches’ expands to incorporate many different outlets and phrasings. Sounds branch out from the main trunk (the first second of the track), and sporadic sequences spread out to form new melodic ideas. The music is always moving, and an array of moods and events populate the track; it’s never a static thing. The results are unexpected, eclectic, and crucial.