At least a couple of years have passed since Pet The Tiger have presented the public with (at least as far as Disaster Amnesiac is aware of) any physical product.
Hail The Traveler has ameliorated this situation, with David Samas and his chosen compadres in sound production showing many and varied moves that will please discerning fans of creative composition and improvisation. The album is made up of four movements, each with its own characteristic flavor of sound. This is mostly due to the differing personnel on each of these movements (excepting
Elegy for Victims of Gun Violence and
Bardo, which share the same members).
Hail starts off with a gorgeous Gamelan composition by Samas,
Lunchroom Pet, wherein its composer shows himself to be on a level with the likes of Lou Harrison in terms of contemporary composition of sounds within the venerable Indonesian courtly form. Just lovely stuff here. Stare at the impressive cover image by Paul Winstanley if you feel lost, or maybe just enjoy getting lost within those beautiful resonant metallic tones. The mood gets heavier and more serious on
Elegy for Victims of Gun Violence, pretty much scarily so within the throat sung vocals from Samas. Is he trying to convey the voices of the dead here? If so, he succeeds. Do not play this one when you've got your kids around, it'll only disturb them. Also within
Elegy, there is a portion that hits on deep Neo Folk vibes. Disaster Amnesiac swears I hear the requisite acoustic guitar for that form, but only "invented instruments" are listed. These instruments go a long way towards having the timbre of traditional ones I say! Nicely played and creatively done! Said invented instrumental sounds emerge to the fore on
Bardo, as a group of long time SF Bay Area improvisors show how and why their scene is worthy of documentation and appreciation. Tom Nunn and Peter Whitehead are familiar to me, Bart Hopkin less so; that said, these players, along with Samas, have been plying their craft for many years (sadly, Nunn's mortal coil has expired, RIP), and it shows as their interactions within the sound matrix of their performance develop. They go deep, listening while they play as a group. Bryan Day and Susan Rawcliffe pair with Samas and Nunn for
Pahoehoe. Day adds his singular sounds in noticeable ways on the track. His sonic signatures alter any group in which he's playing. Rawcliffe coaxes raw and primitive tones from original ceramic flutes. It's her sounds that give
Pahoehoe a kind of demented Exotica feel. Les Baxter Orchestra jamming with Elizabeth Waldo maybe? More likely it's Pet The Tiger just getting down to their own deeply rooted environments of musical expression.
Hail The Traveler presents a San Francisco Bay Area micro-scene getting down to it in very singular, imaginative manners. Put this disc onto your sonic itinerary and hang out for a while once you've arrived there. Your musical brain will thank you for the time well spent with Pet The Tiger.
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