Hybrid Song Box.4

Album review

It's always very tempting -- if not actually necessary -- to write about David Grubbs’ solo work theoretically, since most of it is conceived and talked about in that way. This doesn’t mean the work itself is dry, but it does usually come along with, or is described by the creator as, a commentary on something or cultural critique, and is perhaps best appreciated that way. That said, Hybrid Song Box.4 is actually a work that can be appreciated merely for what it is, though to be fair, it is only half of something else. It was composed and recorded as the accompaniment -- hence the “soundtrack” tag -- to artist Angela Bulloch’s 2008 eponymously titled artwork that was part of the Guggenheim’s Theanyspacewhatever exhibit in 2008. Bulloch’s contribution was a collection of boxes lit from the inside with a seemingly random series of holes (like Swiss cheese) cut through them so the light would pour out to the viewer. Given that context, Grubbs' work, which expresses both interiority and a sense of minimal rockist extroversion, extends her work. But one has to wonder if it works the other way? That’s a serious question, but without the artwork next to the CD, it’s impossible to answer. As a stand-alone piece of music, Hybrid Song Box.4 carries within it many of Grubbs’ trademarks. The piece is written for solo electric guitar and an organ that are never played together. It is 26 and a half minutes long, built on a series of guitar repetitions of fairly long phrases, twinned with shorter ones, interludes, and labyrinthine passages inside them -- in other words, it possesses that sense of moving inside. Some of the passages are louder and minimally distorted -- especially when played on the lower strings. The organ sounds are all played quietly, with longish tones that pulse minimally but steadily, almost -- but not quite -- ambiently, and finally fade to silence that way. It’s an interesting and actually quite pleasant piece, but not necessarily one that stands on its own.

© Thom Jurek /TiVo