Mike Gangloff – April Is Passing LP

Description

Second VHF solo LP from the Pelt/Black Twigs mainstay, following 2022s acclaimed Evening Measures. April is Passing builds on the striking solo Hardanger-style fiddle performances on the previous LP to take the music even further out, with deep drones and extended techniques defining a vocabulary that is Americana-adjacent, but a unique and special sound that Mike is pursuing almost alone. Joined on selected tracks by Cara Gangloffs Sruti and Kaily Shenkers sonorous Cello, the all-original, all-live performances are resonant with both overt melody and a cloud of thick string overtones, whether on the more upbeat tunes like Ironto Dancer or the epic 11+ minute LP closer Helens Song. September Air is a mournful slow build, the fiddle embroidering a minor-key melody over the drone of the Surti box and a low cello counter point. A Fallen Palace of Snowville is a solo performance where the additional sympathetic strings of the hardanger fiddle are strongly heard as a ghostly accompaniment, as Mikes elegant melody switches back and forth from minor to major. Helens Song closes side 2 with a complex, ever-changing swirl of melodic and harmonic invention, with Mikes keening, languorous bowing leading the way through multiple moods and sounds.