maggi payne: crystal

ltd restock of this classic release. Payne's musical imagination is vivid: she is interested in the surreal, the inward, the micro, and the accumulation of physical and psychological tension. Periods of silence gently evolve into flowing drones of complex resonances. Oozing drones evolve into dense and powerful peaks of short duration. On one cut, multi-tracked voices shift in and out of phase, creating alternately shimmering and percussive patterns; on another, digital delay and 32 separate flute tracks create a rain forest where instruments call to each other like chrome birds. The compositions and sounds on this CD have incredible depth, a profound logic and, though not 'pretty,' an irresistible beauty.