artist: CELER
title: Nacreous Clouds
catalog number: and/33
release year: 2008
format: CD
status: sold out
title: Nacreous Clouds
catalog number: and/33
release year: 2008
format: CD
status: sold out
Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), also known as "nacreous clouds", are
found in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000–25,000 metres
(50,000–80,000 ft). Due to their high altitude and the curvature of the surface of
the Earth, these clouds will receive sunlight from below the horizon and reflect
it to the ground, shining brightly well before dawn or after dusk. PSCs form at
very low temperatures, below −78 °C. These temperatures can occur in the
lower stratosphere in polar winter. In the Antarctic, temperatures below −88 °C
frequently cause type II PSCs. Such low temperatures are rarer in the Arctic.
Apart from arctic regions, PSCs have also been known to be seen in
Scandinavia, Iceland, Alaska and Northern Canada. Sometimes, however, they
occur as far south as England.
This beautiful release features 37 short tracks of raw iridescent ambience
(total time exceeding 78 minutes) reflecting the hyper-temporal nature of what
are known as "nacreous clouds". And like the clouds, the tracks are quick to
appear and disappear. Playback using the random shuffle mode of your CD
player is highly recommended.
While this is undoubtedly an ambient release, it is unusual in that there are
many short tracks instead of one or two long ones, and each of the tracks is
notably "raw" in that they do not use additional processing like reverb to
enhance the initial processed sound sources further. This might prove to be a
challenge for those who prefer their ambience buried under a thousand pounds
of reverb, but it is not the intent of the artists or and/OAR to release "just
another ambient CD". Instead, we invite you to explore an alternative method
of rendering ambience in a way that is more immediate, therefore effecting the
listener's mind in a more personal and powerful way.
"We originally recorded ourselves playing instruments such as cello, violin,
piano and bells. We also made recordings of household sounds (such as
showers, running water in the sink, and television static), plus the wind
outside, beaches cars passing, walking on gravel streets, etc. Afterward we
went through everything, choosing specific parts in lengths ranging from 3
seconds to 3 minutes, and made tape loops of everything. At this point, we
arranged the different tape loops into patterns and speeds meant to resemble
the clouds and their actions as much as possible. When mixing the loops, we
played three to six of them at a time, on different reel-to-reel tape players
connected to both of our laptops and channeled back out into a Kaiser filter."
(Celer)
Celer are the wife and husband duo of Dani Baquet-Long and Will Long. After
releasing a rather prolific series of handcrafted self-released CDRs, 2008 has
seen a sudden flurry of CD releases on recording labels such as Spekk (with
Matthieu Ruhlmann), two releases on Infraction (with a possible third to
come?), plus and/OAR.
Danielle Baquet -Long is a teacher of special education and music therapy, a
seasoned and published writer of poetry and prose, a painter, multi-
instrumentalist and vocalist, also recording under the project name of Chubby
Wolf. She has an extensive background in Gender Studies, Education, Basque
History, Photography, and Tibetan Studies, as well as having lived in India,
Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the United States.
Will Long also works in education, and is a published writer of fiction, non-
fiction, and poetry, with degrees from two universities in English and History,
and with a background in Creative Writing, Philosophy, and Literature. He is
also an instrumentalist, interested in finding a meeting place through music
between the analog and digital world, through field recordings, custom
software, arrangements, and concepts. He first began experimenting with
sound at age 4, making 'unsynchronized tape loops' by recording fragments of
pleasant tones from records and films onto audio cassettes, rewinding,
recording again, and repeating the process until the tape was filled up.
During Will and Dani's time together, they have produced numerous custom,
handmade self-releases, sound for installations and art exhibitions, as well as
creating works for independent labels in North America, Japan, and Europe.
Their intent is producing works that reflect the nature of love, family, and their
concerns and interests, through a relative and absolute symposium of
expression. They currently reside on the coast of Southern California.
found in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000–25,000 metres
(50,000–80,000 ft). Due to their high altitude and the curvature of the surface of
the Earth, these clouds will receive sunlight from below the horizon and reflect
it to the ground, shining brightly well before dawn or after dusk. PSCs form at
very low temperatures, below −78 °C. These temperatures can occur in the
lower stratosphere in polar winter. In the Antarctic, temperatures below −88 °C
frequently cause type II PSCs. Such low temperatures are rarer in the Arctic.
Apart from arctic regions, PSCs have also been known to be seen in
Scandinavia, Iceland, Alaska and Northern Canada. Sometimes, however, they
occur as far south as England.
This beautiful release features 37 short tracks of raw iridescent ambience
(total time exceeding 78 minutes) reflecting the hyper-temporal nature of what
are known as "nacreous clouds". And like the clouds, the tracks are quick to
appear and disappear. Playback using the random shuffle mode of your CD
player is highly recommended.
While this is undoubtedly an ambient release, it is unusual in that there are
many short tracks instead of one or two long ones, and each of the tracks is
notably "raw" in that they do not use additional processing like reverb to
enhance the initial processed sound sources further. This might prove to be a
challenge for those who prefer their ambience buried under a thousand pounds
of reverb, but it is not the intent of the artists or and/OAR to release "just
another ambient CD". Instead, we invite you to explore an alternative method
of rendering ambience in a way that is more immediate, therefore effecting the
listener's mind in a more personal and powerful way.
"We originally recorded ourselves playing instruments such as cello, violin,
piano and bells. We also made recordings of household sounds (such as
showers, running water in the sink, and television static), plus the wind
outside, beaches cars passing, walking on gravel streets, etc. Afterward we
went through everything, choosing specific parts in lengths ranging from 3
seconds to 3 minutes, and made tape loops of everything. At this point, we
arranged the different tape loops into patterns and speeds meant to resemble
the clouds and their actions as much as possible. When mixing the loops, we
played three to six of them at a time, on different reel-to-reel tape players
connected to both of our laptops and channeled back out into a Kaiser filter."
(Celer)
Celer are the wife and husband duo of Dani Baquet-Long and Will Long. After
releasing a rather prolific series of handcrafted self-released CDRs, 2008 has
seen a sudden flurry of CD releases on recording labels such as Spekk (with
Matthieu Ruhlmann), two releases on Infraction (with a possible third to
come?), plus and/OAR.
Danielle Baquet -Long is a teacher of special education and music therapy, a
seasoned and published writer of poetry and prose, a painter, multi-
instrumentalist and vocalist, also recording under the project name of Chubby
Wolf. She has an extensive background in Gender Studies, Education, Basque
History, Photography, and Tibetan Studies, as well as having lived in India,
Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the United States.
Will Long also works in education, and is a published writer of fiction, non-
fiction, and poetry, with degrees from two universities in English and History,
and with a background in Creative Writing, Philosophy, and Literature. He is
also an instrumentalist, interested in finding a meeting place through music
between the analog and digital world, through field recordings, custom
software, arrangements, and concepts. He first began experimenting with
sound at age 4, making 'unsynchronized tape loops' by recording fragments of
pleasant tones from records and films onto audio cassettes, rewinding,
recording again, and repeating the process until the tape was filled up.
During Will and Dani's time together, they have produced numerous custom,
handmade self-releases, sound for installations and art exhibitions, as well as
creating works for independent labels in North America, Japan, and Europe.
Their intent is producing works that reflect the nature of love, family, and their
concerns and interests, through a relative and absolute symposium of
expression. They currently reside on the coast of Southern California.
REVIEWS
SMALLFISH (SEPTEMBER 2008)
An utterly enchanting release from and/OAR which sees the husband
and wife team of Dani Baquet-Long and Will long delivering what can
only be called a magical series of ambient works. Using a wide range
of original sound recordings including live instruments and
environmental sounds the tracks are then built up using layering and
filtering to create the dream-like, drifting final pieces. Meant to be an
aural representation of the Nacreous clouds from the title there's a
loving and gentle touch here and it's interesting that the final product
features lots of shorter tracks rather than the more standard three of
four long ones. I for one believe it works exactly as intended and to
experience the entire CD in one 78 minute sitting is the best way to
enjoy it. Warm, yet distant and full of natural sounding beauty this is a
release to treasure. Highly recommended. (Mike Oliver)
An utterly enchanting release from and/OAR which sees the husband
and wife team of Dani Baquet-Long and Will long delivering what can
only be called a magical series of ambient works. Using a wide range
of original sound recordings including live instruments and
environmental sounds the tracks are then built up using layering and
filtering to create the dream-like, drifting final pieces. Meant to be an
aural representation of the Nacreous clouds from the title there's a
loving and gentle touch here and it's interesting that the final product
features lots of shorter tracks rather than the more standard three of
four long ones. I for one believe it works exactly as intended and to
experience the entire CD in one 78 minute sitting is the best way to
enjoy it. Warm, yet distant and full of natural sounding beauty this is a
release to treasure. Highly recommended. (Mike Oliver)
TEXTURA (NOVEMBER 2008)
Married couple and alchemists extraordinaire Danielle Baquet-Long
and Will Long (aka Celer) repeatedly demonstrate the uncanny ability
to take virtually any source material and spin it into aural gold. The
duo's and/OAR release Nacreous Clouds, for instance, presents
seventy-eight minutes of thirty-seven miniatures (the longest four
minutes, the shortest an 8.5 second-long voice sample that's jarring
for being so unexpected and incongruous) that aspire to capture the
"hyper-temporal nature" of said clouds which are distinguished from
other clouds in a couple of key respects: nacreous clouds—also
known as polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs)—reside in the winter
polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000–25,000 metres (50,000–
80,000 ft.) and, due to their high altitude and the curvature of the
Earth's surface of the, receive sunlight from below the horizon and
reflect it to the ground, shining brightly well before dawn or after dusk.
The production method adopted by the group is pure Celer: the
partners first recorded themselves playing cello, violin, piano and
bells, supplemented that material with field recordings (showers, sink
water, television static, wind, car noises, etc.), and generated tape
loops from selected bits which were then arranged into patterns and
speeds that would resemble the clouds and their movements. The
coup de grace(?): "When mixing the loops, (they) played three to six of
them at a time, on different reel-to-reel tape players connected to both
of (their) laptops and channeled back out into a Kaiser filter." Finally,
Celer opted to leave the resultant material in a "raw" state by not
enhancing the tracks with reverb, a move that imbues the material
with a pristine purity. Adding to that quality is the fact that, though a
rich range of source elements was used to produce them, the
resultant material has been cleansed of identifiably associative
characteristics and, consequently, each iridescent, quietly
shimmering piece, reduced to its purest essence, floats peacefully
through the stereo field, coming into view quickly and disappearing
just as fast. In general, the mood is tranquil and the cumulative effect
calming, even if some "clouds" drift more quietly than others.
If ever a recording was tailor-made for random shuffle, it's Nacreous
Clouds—even titling the tracks vividly as Celer has done (e.g.,
"Passing Hills and Still Windmills," "Voiceless Devilfish") seems an
extravagance when they could just as reasonably be named
"Nacreous Clouds I," "Nacreous Clouds II," and so on. The recording,
like virtually all of Celer's output, invites immersion and promotes the
experience of temporal suspension.
Married couple and alchemists extraordinaire Danielle Baquet-Long
and Will Long (aka Celer) repeatedly demonstrate the uncanny ability
to take virtually any source material and spin it into aural gold. The
duo's and/OAR release Nacreous Clouds, for instance, presents
seventy-eight minutes of thirty-seven miniatures (the longest four
minutes, the shortest an 8.5 second-long voice sample that's jarring
for being so unexpected and incongruous) that aspire to capture the
"hyper-temporal nature" of said clouds which are distinguished from
other clouds in a couple of key respects: nacreous clouds—also
known as polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs)—reside in the winter
polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000–25,000 metres (50,000–
80,000 ft.) and, due to their high altitude and the curvature of the
Earth's surface of the, receive sunlight from below the horizon and
reflect it to the ground, shining brightly well before dawn or after dusk.
The production method adopted by the group is pure Celer: the
partners first recorded themselves playing cello, violin, piano and
bells, supplemented that material with field recordings (showers, sink
water, television static, wind, car noises, etc.), and generated tape
loops from selected bits which were then arranged into patterns and
speeds that would resemble the clouds and their movements. The
coup de grace(?): "When mixing the loops, (they) played three to six of
them at a time, on different reel-to-reel tape players connected to both
of (their) laptops and channeled back out into a Kaiser filter." Finally,
Celer opted to leave the resultant material in a "raw" state by not
enhancing the tracks with reverb, a move that imbues the material
with a pristine purity. Adding to that quality is the fact that, though a
rich range of source elements was used to produce them, the
resultant material has been cleansed of identifiably associative
characteristics and, consequently, each iridescent, quietly
shimmering piece, reduced to its purest essence, floats peacefully
through the stereo field, coming into view quickly and disappearing
just as fast. In general, the mood is tranquil and the cumulative effect
calming, even if some "clouds" drift more quietly than others.
If ever a recording was tailor-made for random shuffle, it's Nacreous
Clouds—even titling the tracks vividly as Celer has done (e.g.,
"Passing Hills and Still Windmills," "Voiceless Devilfish") seems an
extravagance when they could just as reasonably be named
"Nacreous Clouds I," "Nacreous Clouds II," and so on. The recording,
like virtually all of Celer's output, invites immersion and promotes the
experience of temporal suspension.
TANNER MENARD BLOG (DECEMBER 2008)
Two is a good number in art. When things happen in two, then you can
be assured that some sort of order will be inherent in the system, and
that change will happen. I have worked with and befriended a number
of creative twosomes, but none so talented and well presented as Will
Thomas Long and Danielle Baquet-Long. Their self described sound,
visual, literary, and artistic endeavor working under the moniker
'Celer' is making waves in the ambient music scene. I remember the
first night that I heard the music of Celer. It was early in the summer
of 2007, in the mission district of San Francisco, and I came across
their Archaic Horizon release 'Arriil'. Slightly inebriated, I sat
transfixed as the sound, a single line gradually unfolded like a
Rosicrucian flower into a dense world of sonic variation. It was as if I
had come across a new aesthetic raison d'être. Admittedly, that night
changed the course of my musical life, taking me in a powerful new
direction away from noise, towards a music of stillness, beauty and
romanticism. Recently Will and Dani mailed a copy of their newly
released album 'Nacreous Clouds', a piece that I had listened to with
great delight over the course of the last year in MP3 format. Of all
their work, this album, beautifully released on Dale Lloyd's influential
and/OAR label, and its sister album, the self-released 'Neon', are
cornerstone pieces of a new aesthetic voice in experimental and
ambient music.
Like the rare polar stratospheric clouds which inspire this work, this
piece fades into the lexicon of music that is hardly noticed, but exists
in such great beauty that those who come across it are left in awe at
its subtle glow. I am reminded of something I read once by Morton
Feldman in his essay 'A Life without Bach or Beethoven.' "A man
visiting Diego Rivera once expressed surprise to fine Miro, Arp and
other abstract painters on the walls of Mexico's great social realist.
Rivera replied, 'Those paintings are for me' this is my feeling about
Christian Wolfe." This is how 'Nacreous Clouds' is for me. It is
perfectly invisible music. Like Barnet Newman's line, a perfect
nothing, and yet somehow, I let myself believe that the universe let
Will and Dani create this music just for my ears, just to inspire my
own barely audible vision. What I love most about Celer is the poetic
mystery that shrouds their work. I once heard Terence Mckenna
speaking about the power of words, he suggested that under the
influence of DMT a species of multi-dimensional creatures began
telling him that words bring existence into being, you remember the
line from the bible 'and in the beginning was the word.' If that's true,
then could it be that the poet is the ultimate sculptor of reality? In the
case of Celer, one can never dismiss the creative impulse of the
poetry that underlies their brilliant music. It is the poetry from whence
this great work is brought into being. Somehow these works remind
me a bit of William Blake. Finely crafted small works of romanticism,
packaged gingerly in simplistic naturalism. The work of a master
craftsmen full of universal love. Just yesterday I asked Will to say a
few words about Blake and he responded, 'A friend of mine used to
love Blake. I think he still does. He used to get inspired by reading
Blake, and write poems, then burn them, leaving ashes all over my
driveway.' Somehow I feel that this is me in the wake of this
powerful music.
Two is a good number in art. When things happen in two, then you can
be assured that some sort of order will be inherent in the system, and
that change will happen. I have worked with and befriended a number
of creative twosomes, but none so talented and well presented as Will
Thomas Long and Danielle Baquet-Long. Their self described sound,
visual, literary, and artistic endeavor working under the moniker
'Celer' is making waves in the ambient music scene. I remember the
first night that I heard the music of Celer. It was early in the summer
of 2007, in the mission district of San Francisco, and I came across
their Archaic Horizon release 'Arriil'. Slightly inebriated, I sat
transfixed as the sound, a single line gradually unfolded like a
Rosicrucian flower into a dense world of sonic variation. It was as if I
had come across a new aesthetic raison d'être. Admittedly, that night
changed the course of my musical life, taking me in a powerful new
direction away from noise, towards a music of stillness, beauty and
romanticism. Recently Will and Dani mailed a copy of their newly
released album 'Nacreous Clouds', a piece that I had listened to with
great delight over the course of the last year in MP3 format. Of all
their work, this album, beautifully released on Dale Lloyd's influential
and/OAR label, and its sister album, the self-released 'Neon', are
cornerstone pieces of a new aesthetic voice in experimental and
ambient music.
Like the rare polar stratospheric clouds which inspire this work, this
piece fades into the lexicon of music that is hardly noticed, but exists
in such great beauty that those who come across it are left in awe at
its subtle glow. I am reminded of something I read once by Morton
Feldman in his essay 'A Life without Bach or Beethoven.' "A man
visiting Diego Rivera once expressed surprise to fine Miro, Arp and
other abstract painters on the walls of Mexico's great social realist.
Rivera replied, 'Those paintings are for me' this is my feeling about
Christian Wolfe." This is how 'Nacreous Clouds' is for me. It is
perfectly invisible music. Like Barnet Newman's line, a perfect
nothing, and yet somehow, I let myself believe that the universe let
Will and Dani create this music just for my ears, just to inspire my
own barely audible vision. What I love most about Celer is the poetic
mystery that shrouds their work. I once heard Terence Mckenna
speaking about the power of words, he suggested that under the
influence of DMT a species of multi-dimensional creatures began
telling him that words bring existence into being, you remember the
line from the bible 'and in the beginning was the word.' If that's true,
then could it be that the poet is the ultimate sculptor of reality? In the
case of Celer, one can never dismiss the creative impulse of the
poetry that underlies their brilliant music. It is the poetry from whence
this great work is brought into being. Somehow these works remind
me a bit of William Blake. Finely crafted small works of romanticism,
packaged gingerly in simplistic naturalism. The work of a master
craftsmen full of universal love. Just yesterday I asked Will to say a
few words about Blake and he responded, 'A friend of mine used to
love Blake. I think he still does. He used to get inspired by reading
Blake, and write poems, then burn them, leaving ashes all over my
driveway.' Somehow I feel that this is me in the wake of this
powerful music.
BRAIN DEAD ETERNITY (DECEMBER 2008)
“Nacreous clouds” is just another definition for “Polar stratospheric
clouds” or PSCs, whose abnormal shining occurs before dawn or after
dusk due to the sunlight received from beyond the horizon, a luminosity
that is also reflected to the ground in those circumstances. To sonically
represent this phenomenon, Will Thomas Long and Dani Baquet-Long
recorded several segments of music and human activity, either by
playing regular instruments (cello, violin, piano and bells) or aptly
described “household sounds” (water, TV static, etc.) together with
“classic” field recordings. Afterwards, they made tape loops of the whole,
setting the playback at various speeds in different combinations, the
results processed by laptops and “channelled back out into a Kaiser filter”.
If you think that it’s possible to detect even a slight particle of the above
mentioned sources while listening to this CD you’re completely wrong, as
the 37 pieces forming this malleable architecture – improvable by
shuffling the tracks according to the composers – are short glimpses of a
state of conscious stupor that renders this work, in all probability, the best
Celer album I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy. The “raw iridescent
ambience” depiction used in the press release is a good one:
umbrageous entities, whispered amorphousness, sudden disappearances
and somnolent reminiscences are all part of a same mental condition,
the nerves receiving a much needed rubdown that transforms a latent
tenseness into a resinous melancholy. Goodbye to vigilance, welcome
to inside responsiveness. A fine paradigm of contemporary ambient at
low volume, but also an exciting titillation of particular frequencies as
the mixture is left free to reveal its stifled resonances more deliberately.
(Massimo Ricci)
“Nacreous clouds” is just another definition for “Polar stratospheric
clouds” or PSCs, whose abnormal shining occurs before dawn or after
dusk due to the sunlight received from beyond the horizon, a luminosity
that is also reflected to the ground in those circumstances. To sonically
represent this phenomenon, Will Thomas Long and Dani Baquet-Long
recorded several segments of music and human activity, either by
playing regular instruments (cello, violin, piano and bells) or aptly
described “household sounds” (water, TV static, etc.) together with
“classic” field recordings. Afterwards, they made tape loops of the whole,
setting the playback at various speeds in different combinations, the
results processed by laptops and “channelled back out into a Kaiser filter”.
If you think that it’s possible to detect even a slight particle of the above
mentioned sources while listening to this CD you’re completely wrong, as
the 37 pieces forming this malleable architecture – improvable by
shuffling the tracks according to the composers – are short glimpses of a
state of conscious stupor that renders this work, in all probability, the best
Celer album I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy. The “raw iridescent
ambience” depiction used in the press release is a good one:
umbrageous entities, whispered amorphousness, sudden disappearances
and somnolent reminiscences are all part of a same mental condition,
the nerves receiving a much needed rubdown that transforms a latent
tenseness into a resinous melancholy. Goodbye to vigilance, welcome
to inside responsiveness. A fine paradigm of contemporary ambient at
low volume, but also an exciting titillation of particular frequencies as
the mixture is left free to reveal its stifled resonances more deliberately.
(Massimo Ricci)
VITAL WEEKLY (SEPTEMBER 2008)
Highly ambient loops are created to make the music. It's played by
cello, violin, piano, bells but also household sounds, the wind,
walking gravel streets and such like, but if you wouldn't know this,
you could as easily mistake this for a bunch of slow arpeggio's played
on an analogue synthesizer. But it's not. Celer created loops of
everything and playing three to six on their reel-to-reel recorders,
'connected to both our laptops and channeled back out into a Kaiser
filter', they say. Perhaps the 'Kaiser filter' makes that these thirty-
seven (!!) tracks sound quite similar with sonic differences to be
spotted through a microscope. It moves like the clouds, like those
mentioned in the title, which occur in winter time. Not entirely winter
time here (will it ever be again?) yet, and not many clouds on a
beautiful autumn day (my kind of weather), but if I would open up a
window things would certainly get chilly in here, and this could be a
great sound track. Beautiful examples of somewhat darker ambient
music. (Frans De Waard)
Highly ambient loops are created to make the music. It's played by
cello, violin, piano, bells but also household sounds, the wind,
walking gravel streets and such like, but if you wouldn't know this,
you could as easily mistake this for a bunch of slow arpeggio's played
on an analogue synthesizer. But it's not. Celer created loops of
everything and playing three to six on their reel-to-reel recorders,
'connected to both our laptops and channeled back out into a Kaiser
filter', they say. Perhaps the 'Kaiser filter' makes that these thirty-
seven (!!) tracks sound quite similar with sonic differences to be
spotted through a microscope. It moves like the clouds, like those
mentioned in the title, which occur in winter time. Not entirely winter
time here (will it ever be again?) yet, and not many clouds on a
beautiful autumn day (my kind of weather), but if I would open up a
window things would certainly get chilly in here, and this could be a
great sound track. Beautiful examples of somewhat darker ambient
music. (Frans De Waard)
LOOP (DECEMBER 2008)
La música de Celer me hace pensar, observar la naturaleza que, en
este caso es un austero jardín. El sol pronto se va a disipar entre los
edificios de Santiago… Los loops fluyen en la atmósfera uniendo
sonidos analógicos y digitales, como si fueran ondas que van y
vienen. Es el paisaje sonoro perfecto para ver o imaginar las
nacaradas nubes que son un fenómeno que se da en el invierno
polar, especialmente en el Antártico, en donde se experimentan
temperaturas de 78° grados bajo cero. Estos drones sonoros fueran
hechos originalmente por un cello, violín, piano y campanillas
además de registros de campo, cuyos sonidos son puestos en cintas
que son tocadas al unísono y luego procesadas por el laptop. Celer
está compuesto por Will Thomas Long y Danielle Baquet-Long, ambos
escritores y educadores quienes residen en el norte de California.
(Guillermo Escudero)
La música de Celer me hace pensar, observar la naturaleza que, en
este caso es un austero jardín. El sol pronto se va a disipar entre los
edificios de Santiago… Los loops fluyen en la atmósfera uniendo
sonidos analógicos y digitales, como si fueran ondas que van y
vienen. Es el paisaje sonoro perfecto para ver o imaginar las
nacaradas nubes que son un fenómeno que se da en el invierno
polar, especialmente en el Antártico, en donde se experimentan
temperaturas de 78° grados bajo cero. Estos drones sonoros fueran
hechos originalmente por un cello, violín, piano y campanillas
además de registros de campo, cuyos sonidos son puestos en cintas
que son tocadas al unísono y luego procesadas por el laptop. Celer
está compuesto por Will Thomas Long y Danielle Baquet-Long, ambos
escritores y educadores quienes residen en el norte de California.
(Guillermo Escudero)
TOKAFI (JANUARY 2009)
Nacreous Clouds germinate in the polar winter of skies draped
across Alaska, Iceland, Scandinavia, Northern Canada and, most
notably, the Antarctic. Tokens of these rare cloud types, these mother
of pearls, are wrung from household objects and natural instruments
such as cello, violin, piano and bells on this, Celer's first contribution
to the and/Oar catalogue.
In a space of seventy some odd minutes, thirty-seven small tracks
appear - made up of processed tape loops - and are generally
rigorous, moving and yet clear-eyed. The filmy sheets are delicately
poised as they curl and uncurl, stretch and contract, almost
mimicking the way in which these clouds tend to reveal the wind and
the waves of the stratosphere. Perhaps not surprisingly, the speed of
the pieces changes like small spasms and the odd work ascends
higher or lower than the majority of others.
During tracks like "Swarms Of Orange" and "Seeing; That Side Of
Teaching", furthermore, there is noticeable emphasis on vivid and
slowly shifting iridescent colors. It's real music for synaesthetes, for
whom the hue of a note or chord is not a metaphorical device but an
objective fact. Sans reverb and other such processing techniques,
these pieces manage to strike at the emotional registers with some
immediacy. (Max Schaefer)
Nacreous Clouds germinate in the polar winter of skies draped
across Alaska, Iceland, Scandinavia, Northern Canada and, most
notably, the Antarctic. Tokens of these rare cloud types, these mother
of pearls, are wrung from household objects and natural instruments
such as cello, violin, piano and bells on this, Celer's first contribution
to the and/Oar catalogue.
In a space of seventy some odd minutes, thirty-seven small tracks
appear - made up of processed tape loops - and are generally
rigorous, moving and yet clear-eyed. The filmy sheets are delicately
poised as they curl and uncurl, stretch and contract, almost
mimicking the way in which these clouds tend to reveal the wind and
the waves of the stratosphere. Perhaps not surprisingly, the speed of
the pieces changes like small spasms and the odd work ascends
higher or lower than the majority of others.
During tracks like "Swarms Of Orange" and "Seeing; That Side Of
Teaching", furthermore, there is noticeable emphasis on vivid and
slowly shifting iridescent colors. It's real music for synaesthetes, for
whom the hue of a note or chord is not a metaphorical device but an
objective fact. Sans reverb and other such processing techniques,
these pieces manage to strike at the emotional registers with some
immediacy. (Max Schaefer)
AQUARIUS RECORDS (SEPTEMBER 2008)
Celer is the husband and wife team of Dani Baquet-Long and Will
Long, who currently reside somewhere down on the Southern
California coast. They've released a handful of well-received ambient
recordings on Spekk and Infraction, and they've found a good home
on and/OAR for this driftscape of tapeloop interplay. As for the title, a
nacreous cloud is found in the upper regions of the atmosphere at the
polar regions. Well past sunset and well before sunrise, these clouds
showcase a radiant brightness against an otherwise darkened sky;
and it's this particular phenomenon that forms the inspiration for
Celer's album of the same name. Having stretched the tones of
various instruments into languid looping drones and bliss-out
ambience, Celer presents 37 short tracks which actually work really
well as a single composition, given the gentle flutter and restrained
attack from all of their sounds. References abound to William
Basinski's ambient work, Aidan Baker's soft focus facets, and of
course the seminal work of Brian Eno.
Celer is the husband and wife team of Dani Baquet-Long and Will
Long, who currently reside somewhere down on the Southern
California coast. They've released a handful of well-received ambient
recordings on Spekk and Infraction, and they've found a good home
on and/OAR for this driftscape of tapeloop interplay. As for the title, a
nacreous cloud is found in the upper regions of the atmosphere at the
polar regions. Well past sunset and well before sunrise, these clouds
showcase a radiant brightness against an otherwise darkened sky;
and it's this particular phenomenon that forms the inspiration for
Celer's album of the same name. Having stretched the tones of
various instruments into languid looping drones and bliss-out
ambience, Celer presents 37 short tracks which actually work really
well as a single composition, given the gentle flutter and restrained
attack from all of their sounds. References abound to William
Basinski's ambient work, Aidan Baker's soft focus facets, and of
course the seminal work of Brian Eno.
SOUNDSCAPING (JANUARY 2009)
Mysterious, cloud formations take shape in Celer’s new ambient album.
To start off, this album reminds me of one of Information’s old ambient
recordings; their follow-up Successor which comprised 90-something
bits and pieces with the simple instructions in the back to press
random, then play, then sit back and enjoy. Such is the statement
issued before-hand by Celer too regarding their album, Nacreous
Clouds; their ambient journey plays just as well in sequence as
jumbled up in random order, so naturally I was intrigued and have
listened through in various orders in addition to the traditional track
order.
A little background on Celer first though; some may recall them as
half of the force behind the Mesoscaphe album reviewed here at
Soundscaping earlier in 2008 (ed. to which a highly anticipated
follow-up is being worked upon). The duo is California-based
husband and wife, Will Long and Danielle Baquet-Long; both teachers
in education, the former also a published writer and instrumentalist
into field recordings and sound experiments. The latter works in
special education and music therapy, and is specialised in a
multitude of disciplines as well as a seasoned globe-trotter from
long stays abroad.
Personalia aside, Nacreous Clouds delivers on both accounts;
played chronologically and in random order, and is an absolutely
sublime piece of ambient music. Will & Dani use sounds from piano,
cello, bells, violins and field recordings and computers to process
until the boundaries of each constituent instrument disappear and the
result is just a lovely, floating stream of unassuming, non-pretentious
sound. Soothing compositions of anything from half a minute and up to
longer drones at five minutes all contribute to a holistic feeling of
something serene and beautiful, like slowly developing clouds that
form a shape then disperse and take on a different appearance, holding
each shape for a limited time but all the while captivating to the
listener, like the sky when you witness the phenomenon of mother of
pearl clouds. The music is moving and restrained, sometimes growing
in force then retracting, but never with elements that break the
conformity of the entire composition. In this way, Celer have produced
an indispensable collection of ambient soundscapes that flow
seamlessly and would be ideal for home listening as a supplement to
relaxation. If you are looking for an ambient album
from 2008, look no further than Nacreous Clouds on the influential
and/OAR label. (Trym)
Mysterious, cloud formations take shape in Celer’s new ambient album.
To start off, this album reminds me of one of Information’s old ambient
recordings; their follow-up Successor which comprised 90-something
bits and pieces with the simple instructions in the back to press
random, then play, then sit back and enjoy. Such is the statement
issued before-hand by Celer too regarding their album, Nacreous
Clouds; their ambient journey plays just as well in sequence as
jumbled up in random order, so naturally I was intrigued and have
listened through in various orders in addition to the traditional track
order.
A little background on Celer first though; some may recall them as
half of the force behind the Mesoscaphe album reviewed here at
Soundscaping earlier in 2008 (ed. to which a highly anticipated
follow-up is being worked upon). The duo is California-based
husband and wife, Will Long and Danielle Baquet-Long; both teachers
in education, the former also a published writer and instrumentalist
into field recordings and sound experiments. The latter works in
special education and music therapy, and is specialised in a
multitude of disciplines as well as a seasoned globe-trotter from
long stays abroad.
Personalia aside, Nacreous Clouds delivers on both accounts;
played chronologically and in random order, and is an absolutely
sublime piece of ambient music. Will & Dani use sounds from piano,
cello, bells, violins and field recordings and computers to process
until the boundaries of each constituent instrument disappear and the
result is just a lovely, floating stream of unassuming, non-pretentious
sound. Soothing compositions of anything from half a minute and up to
longer drones at five minutes all contribute to a holistic feeling of
something serene and beautiful, like slowly developing clouds that
form a shape then disperse and take on a different appearance, holding
each shape for a limited time but all the while captivating to the
listener, like the sky when you witness the phenomenon of mother of
pearl clouds. The music is moving and restrained, sometimes growing
in force then retracting, but never with elements that break the
conformity of the entire composition. In this way, Celer have produced
an indispensable collection of ambient soundscapes that flow
seamlessly and would be ideal for home listening as a supplement to
relaxation. If you are looking for an ambient album
from 2008, look no further than Nacreous Clouds on the influential
and/OAR label. (Trym)
FURTHERNOISE (APRIL 2009)
Nacreous Clouds is a depiction of forms that drape themselves in the
winter across the skies of the polar North. These clouds get sunlight
from below the horizon and reflect it to the ground, radiant before
dawn or after dusk. 37 short tracks of iridescent ambience reflect
their inner life, mercurial nature reflected in their evanescence.
Sounds drawn from life (showers, running water, TV static, wind,
cars, gravel streets) and instruments (cello, piano, bells) are formed
into mellifluous mother-of-pearl tonalities. A mimesis of cloud motions
in sound structures, filmy strata delicately unfurl, stretch and contract
(see this sequence), mirroring their tendency to reveal the wind and
waves of the stratosphere. Rawer than usual for this process-heavy
pair, timbres are left exposed (what? no reverb?!) to shine through
undimmed - more innocent, immediate. Possibly more affecting for
this, Nacreous Clouds has the same pleasingly tranquillizing effect as
cloudwatching. (Alan Lockett)
Nacreous Clouds is a depiction of forms that drape themselves in the
winter across the skies of the polar North. These clouds get sunlight
from below the horizon and reflect it to the ground, radiant before
dawn or after dusk. 37 short tracks of iridescent ambience reflect
their inner life, mercurial nature reflected in their evanescence.
Sounds drawn from life (showers, running water, TV static, wind,
cars, gravel streets) and instruments (cello, piano, bells) are formed
into mellifluous mother-of-pearl tonalities. A mimesis of cloud motions
in sound structures, filmy strata delicately unfurl, stretch and contract
(see this sequence), mirroring their tendency to reveal the wind and
waves of the stratosphere. Rawer than usual for this process-heavy
pair, timbres are left exposed (what? no reverb?!) to shine through
undimmed - more innocent, immediate. Possibly more affecting for
this, Nacreous Clouds has the same pleasingly tranquillizing effect as
cloudwatching. (Alan Lockett)
SENTIREASCOLTARE (JANUARY 2009)
Trentasette micro frammenti lunghi poco meno o poco più di 2-3
minuti sintetizzano il simbiotico unisono della coppia Danielle
Bagìquet-Long / Will Long, in arte Celer.Dichiarate propensioni
ambient che in Nacreous clouds trovano spunto per far dialogare
elementi atmosferici in matrici elettroacustiche.
Parliamo delle nubi madreperlacee, fenomeno noto nelle regioni
artiche, legato alle rigide temperature invernali che si raggiungono
nella stratosfera polare ad altitudini di 15,000–25,000 metri.A causa
dell’altitudine e della curvature della superficie terrestre queste nubi
ricevono la luce del sole al di sotto dell’orizzonte per poi rifletterlo
sulla Terra.
S'incontrano tracce d’un malinconico naturalisno romantico, che
prendono consistenza nelle vaporee identità tonali di improvvisi
lamenti elettrostatici.Paradigmi d’eccellente sensibilità intrappolano l’
atmosfera percettiva delle sfumature madreperlacee che diventano
motivo di dibattito su tematiche tanto care alla musica minimale del
dopoguerra.
Se volessimo parlare di influenze citeremmo i musicisti-scenziati alla
Toshiya Tsunoda, la ricerca sulle ombre sonore, il concetto di
“ecologia-sonora”, “musica invisibile”, senza dimenticare gli studi
ormai classici legati al periodo post-werbiano del puntualismo, o le
contemporanee affinità di Mark Fell.Ma non è questo il punto.
Piuttosto stupisce l’organica architettura di fondo che trama per 78
minuti celando fonti analogiche e digitali abilmente plasmate in
laptop, tagli, filtri e field-recording senza perdere di vista il filo
conduttore.Quel filo conduttore che si fa portavoce d’estetiche e
organiche letture ambientali, rappresentando al meglio la mutevole
identità di una nuvola e dei suoi fondali in colore.Una delle migliori
opere del duo, sicuramente un raro esempio di poesia sonora.
(Guillermo Escudero)
Trentasette micro frammenti lunghi poco meno o poco più di 2-3
minuti sintetizzano il simbiotico unisono della coppia Danielle
Bagìquet-Long / Will Long, in arte Celer.Dichiarate propensioni
ambient che in Nacreous clouds trovano spunto per far dialogare
elementi atmosferici in matrici elettroacustiche.
Parliamo delle nubi madreperlacee, fenomeno noto nelle regioni
artiche, legato alle rigide temperature invernali che si raggiungono
nella stratosfera polare ad altitudini di 15,000–25,000 metri.A causa
dell’altitudine e della curvature della superficie terrestre queste nubi
ricevono la luce del sole al di sotto dell’orizzonte per poi rifletterlo
sulla Terra.
S'incontrano tracce d’un malinconico naturalisno romantico, che
prendono consistenza nelle vaporee identità tonali di improvvisi
lamenti elettrostatici.Paradigmi d’eccellente sensibilità intrappolano l’
atmosfera percettiva delle sfumature madreperlacee che diventano
motivo di dibattito su tematiche tanto care alla musica minimale del
dopoguerra.
Se volessimo parlare di influenze citeremmo i musicisti-scenziati alla
Toshiya Tsunoda, la ricerca sulle ombre sonore, il concetto di
“ecologia-sonora”, “musica invisibile”, senza dimenticare gli studi
ormai classici legati al periodo post-werbiano del puntualismo, o le
contemporanee affinità di Mark Fell.Ma non è questo il punto.
Piuttosto stupisce l’organica architettura di fondo che trama per 78
minuti celando fonti analogiche e digitali abilmente plasmate in
laptop, tagli, filtri e field-recording senza perdere di vista il filo
conduttore.Quel filo conduttore che si fa portavoce d’estetiche e
organiche letture ambientali, rappresentando al meglio la mutevole
identità di una nuvola e dei suoi fondali in colore.Una delle migliori
opere del duo, sicuramente un raro esempio di poesia sonora.
(Guillermo Escudero)
