catalogue number: trans/mim0125
artist: Eric Leonardson & Steve Barsotti
title: Rarebit
CD
price $10.00

Rarebit is the culmination of a four-year project by sound artists and instrument inventors Steve Barsotti and Eric Leonardson. Taking their cues from 20th Century sound artist-inventors Luigi Russolo and Harry Partch, the self-built instruments of Barsotti and Leonardson use coil springs, eyebolts, various pieces of wood, and other familiar materials These objects are amplified by contact microphones, which produce sounds of incredible depth and texture, and an amazing richness and variety that belie their humble origins. Given these novel sounds, Leonardson and Barsotti’s music retains human-level gestures as one expects from traditional acoustic music, yet with an emphasis on texture and timbre instead of melody or meter.
Seven of the nine pieces on the CD are improvised pieces and two were composed. They create streams of sound that move fluidly from scene to scene with a communicative style and a dramatic sense of presence and dynamic range: from effervescent burbling, animal-like whines and grunts, to gritty metallic drones that transform into forlorn hissing and ethereal soundscapes. Some passages are nearly silent, breathy, and tranquil.