Melbourne based contrabass recorder performer Natasha Anderson is known for her work on Anthony Pateras’ Mutant Theatre (Tzadik) and various improvisational performances around Melbourne. If you’ve never seen her Contrabass Recorder, you’re out of luck because you’re not going to here either as the performances on this DVD-R are documentations of live multimedia works. Though you do get to hear its strange high-pitched tones or breathy squeaks alongside garklein, voice and electronics.
The first piece, latex screens clocks in at over eighteen minutes and consists of a single shot of a latex screen (part of which adorns the cover). Light is manipulated on this screen creating some pretty amazing effects of colour depth and movement. It’s all quite strange, particularly when accompanied by Anderson’ incredible range of sonic material, which seems to build almost surreptitiously in density, whistles, shudders and sudden gasps before descending into sparse creaking as the lights go low. Watching it repeatedly it’s difficult to work out exactly how the latex effects work or even how Anderson has approached melding the sonics with the visual, yet somehow it works feeling like the same organism breathing stretching and attempting to move.
Pulse/Glance seems to find Anderson behind the wheel as cars career past illuminated in the rear vision mirror. It’s sepia toned mystery as we wonder what she’ doing there in the front seat, and what exactly we’re looking out through the windscreen. Something’ a little off. Here Anderson is going for high-pitched drones of woodwind that hang in the air before forming into electronics and dropping away. Somehow it merges into an image of her performing live, (and yep you get to see her contrabass) whilst still retaining the rear vision mirror and lights of passing cars. It’s strange and slightly surreal work, though there’ no denying Anderson’ ability to create an evocative tension filled mood.
