by Don Hagar(Photo courtesy of Glenn Cornett, Sequenza21)
Last Tuesday’s performance by singer/composer Amy X. Neuberg and pianist/composer Cory Smythe at Roulette was a cool display of vocal, pianistic and electronic dexterity. Add to this Ms. Neuberg’s talent for writing existential, almost absurd lyrics and the evening went from merely cool to contemplative, and then to amazing.
Ms. Neuberg’s existential songwriting talent was present throughout the evening, most notably in “Shrapnel,” in which (evoking Laurie Anderson) the nothingness of life is neatly expressed in all those “little things” that add up: from absentmindedness (“I reached out for something and forgot what I was reaching out for”), to the excesses of bulk mail (“catalogs sent to my address, to my P.O. address, to the address with a misspelling of my name…Neuberg with a ‘u!’”). Such everyday minutiae were also found in the song “When” (“If you are very still, you can hear the batteries leaking in the earthquake kit/And the pills expiring”).
Ms. Neuberg's songwriting abilities were complemented by her 4-octave voice, heard occasionally in low growls that would then give way to high squeals. Extended vocal techniques and sounds (a la Meredith Monk) were also employed, as in the song “2 Disorders.” Indeed, this song seemed almost an homage to Ms. Monk with its simple piano accompaniment, provided by Mr. Smythe.
Although Mr. Smythe accompanied her on several songs, Ms. Neuberg also backed herself on electronics, often manipulating her sound in real time. She created gauzy polyphonic backdrops derived from her own instrumental solos: on “The Gooseneck,” she used drumsticks to accompany herself ; on “Every Little Stain,” she created a clever rhythmic ostinato using the sound of a toothbrush on her teeth, setting up a 3-2-2 Balkan rhythm over which her plaintive vocal line soared. Other songs displayed a confident pop/jazz sensibility that enhanced the ironic qualities of her lyrics; not least was her use of traditional forms such as marches and waltzes a la Kurt Weill, with their absurd ideas and trite slogans.
Mr. Smythe's technical mastery and ease at the piano was evident in his solo set. He began with “Lung and Lake,” also using electronics to manipulate the piano sound. The augmentation was impressive, but Mr. Smythe’s intriguing melodies and lush, full chords caused this listener to want to hear the composition without the electronics. His hushed, sustained “Turnstile” showed off his more modernist style – Takemitsu meets Ligeti’s “Volumina” – with electronic manipulation continuing here as a coloristic mainstay. “Handful of Keys” was a wonderfully modernist, fractured-rhythm rendition of the Fats Waller tune; after, Mr. Smythe went directly into his solo of Ms. Neuberg’s “Gooseneck” with such technical and compositional skill that the transition was seamless. Another skillful segue was heard between Smythe’s compositions “Walls/Fats” and “To Bed”; it was wonderful to hear how musicality combined with superb technique could reveal similarities in otherwise disparate pieces.
The final piece was an arrangement of Schubert’s “Gretchen am Spinnrade.” The piece lends itself to electronic enhancement with its references to the supernatural and, indeed, this performance proved to be effective, with eerie wind gusts, sudden sound modulations, and fluctuating extended harmonies from Mr. Smythe’s modernist/jazz palette.
The collaboration between these two accomplished artists yielded many new and enjoyable sounds. Hopefully, we'll hear more from this union soon.