The Light of Falling Cars

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The lovely, Hugo Largo-esque She Never Blinks will be missed, leaving behind only one album and a fairly high-profile appearance on the soundtrack of Hal Hartley's Flirt. In wake of their apparent dissolution, guitarist Vitiello has made a name for himself as a solo artist, his name appearing in the credits of experimental film shorts aired at New York's prestigious art museums, international galleries and occasional broadcasts on public television. The Light of Falling Cars, his third disk of installation and soundtrack recordings, follows multimedia collaborations with an impressive roster of "A"-list artists (Nam Jum Paik, writer Constance De Jong, Tony Oursler, Brazilian filmmaker Eder Santos, Jem Cohen, choreographer Li Chiao-Ping) and musicians. In interviews with SNB, Vitiello made a point of his love for the undulant looped ambient washes of Seefeel and hinted that his band's new material was exploring similar techniques (as did the anomalous "Pressing Fingers" on their Don't Step On Tiny CD). Recorded evidence of such may have never materialized, but Vitiello has indeed hitched his electric guitar to a sampler. Whether or not he still carries a torch for Seefeel is difficult to assess, since even the few pieces that bear traces of dance music or percussive sequencing approach these qualities from a distinctly art-school angle. On "Organ Ending" or "Slow Spy and Camel," the effect is intriguing, that of a Pogus ensemble such as If, Bwana or Trigger subjected to messy turntablization by Otomo Yoshihide. "Hahn & Tape," with swaths of luscious electric violin from Hahn Rowe (Hugo Largo/Circuit Bible/Somatic) and ragged, overlapped loops, and the overbearing rhythm onslaught of "Slow Drum" get ever so slightly closer. But that's as deeply as Vitiello delves into the Seefeel sound, as the rest of Cars consists of improvisations. Some, like the brief "A Little Buzz of Something Electric," "Not Spain" and "Not China" rouse memories of Eyeless in Gaza's enigmatic Saw You In Reminding Pictures. Six-string-centric "Papercutter" and "Guitar Solo Through Broken Speaker" are more reminiscent of the instrument's recent antiheroes, Kevin Drumm, Rafael Toral and Christian Fennesz. Two central pieces, "Trio" and "Duo," supplement Vitiello's list of musical collaborators with a number of formidable names. In addition to Rowe, Pauline Oliveros joins Vitiello with her effects-laden accordion. Rebecca Moore brings the uncommon sound of the computer Theremin, and Vitiello takes creative license, sampling its giddy whistles and squeals with abandon. "Trio" shows that he has a fine sense for refined and sophisticated improvisation, carefully leaving ample space for Oliveros' complex, wheezy tones and Rowe's lacy violin overdubs so that each voice is given equal weight. The dominance of Oliveros' pellucid accordion palette makes "Duo" strongly evocative of her Deep Listening Band, but processed Theremin and guitar impart an artificial overtone distinct from the organic melt of the DLB. "The Light Of Falling Stars" itself, a raga of violin, sitar-like drones, accordion and bird-whistle feedback, is almost too musical to have been born of spontaneity. Whatever its origins, it's a beautiful piece of music -calling to mind not only the DLB but also the powerful, elemental improv of Japan's Toho Sara/Seventh Seal and the fringe-dwellers of U.K. folk, the singular Third Ear Band.