Collaborative album on Fort Evil Fruit

 

An album with David Lacey, Magnetic North, was recently released by Irish cassette label Fort Evil Fruit

Fergus Kelly: bowed bass, bowed cymbals, no-input mixer, bowed steel rods, found metals, electro-magnetic recordings, bowed car suspension springs, aeolian harp, spinning top, Gamelan Kjai Jati Roso, bowed singing bowl, mic/speaker feedback, whirly, Bow Gamelan Ensemble pyrophones (from Kelly’s recording of ‘In C And Air’, ICA, London, 6.8.86 – used with kind permission),
composition and mix.

David Lacey: snare, gongs.

Composed in Dublin 2022 - 2023.

Photo by Fergus Kelly. 

 

"From Fergus Kelly, I reviewed various works over the years. He's a percussion player, creating his own instruments and working with electronics. He has recorded with Max Eastley, Mark Wastell and Bruno Duplant and now has a new recording with David Lacey, also a percussionist and someone whose work is reviewed occasionally in Vital Weekly. Kelly and Lacey worked together before (see Vital Weekly 1010). 

 

They have a single piece here, 41'14" long, and spread out over the two sides of the cassette. Kelly plays a variety of instruments, "bowed bass, bowed cymbals, no-input mixer, bowed steel rods, found metals, Gamelan Kjai Jati Roso, electro-magnetic recordings, bowed car suspension springs, aeolian harp, spinning top, bowed singing bowl, mic/speaker feedback, whirly, Bow Gamelan Ensemble pyrophones" while Lacey plays the snare and gongs. 

 

The snare roll is the primary feature of the music, as it is heard throughout this piece, swelling and fading but a presence nonetheless. Kelly uses that adds his blend of percussion and electronics, which effectively makes the various movements this piece goes through. These rolls indicate the start of multiple sections in each new section, so Kelly rearranges his set-up and plays his dark material into this. 

 

I don't think this is a gathering of two persons in one room, recording it all in one take, but rather meticulous, mixing various parts. Lots of sustaining sounds from the gong, but also from the uses of bows upon snares, cymbals and gong. Moody and dark music, an excellent work that keeps moving, like the snare rolls, rocking back and forth. Quite intense music, certainly at a loud volume, but it makes the immersion complete." 

 

Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly