Jeremy Bible & Jason Henry, Vryashn (CDR Gears of Sand)

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The present reviewer must confess to having no idea of this duo´s track record, but artistically at least it looks like a case of the old ketchup-effect: nothing, nothing for a long time and then suddenly, splat! Five releases on three different labels, including their own, in a matter of a few short months.

Vryashn is presented as an "avant-garde sound experience" intended for deep listening. A tad generic as a description, but then the two extended pieces on this album really need no further introduction or setting of the scene. What Bible and Henry have created speaks for itself, and it does so softly and with great authority.

I fell for the first piece directly. In its slow, organic growth it displays compositional maturity and dexterity. Vast grainy spaces shift as viola and cello sway back and forth, the elements become integrated and build a perfect whole. I am almost sad to have it come to an end. It is a space for quiet contemplation and reflection, as sparse and sacral as a Zen garden.

Initially I found myself indifferently disposed toward the second, half-hour long piece, which would seem to be an altogether different animal than its predecessor. Instead of floating in glorious stasis, it is more of an off-kilter collage; this must be the "avant-garde" bit promised by the press release. I´m still not really enjoying myself - until around the seventeenth minute when what sounds like an orchestra schooled in nothing but holy mininalism begins to swell and we are back in territory much more familiar and, to be honest, much more worthwhile your time.

Having also recently heard Bible and Henry´s "Marker" on Gruenrekorder, I know they are dedicated field recordists, but I prefer their talent at creating mood, sustaining techniques, sounds bleeding into one another, shifting colour. And the first seventeen minutes of that second track simply seem out of place on Vryashn. Excise them and you have what in my opinion is one of the most polished musical moments of a year quickly approaching its end.