by Robert Leeper
All photos: Nick Fallon
Brooklyn-based musical outfit Dawn of Midi draws influences from experimental jazz, minimalism, and electronic music—though none of these would fit as descriptors for the music—to create what has been dubbed a kind of minimalist, acoustic dance music. On Saturday, the group journeyed across treacherous seas to kick off the fourth season of the Rite of Summer Music Festival on Governors Island. The show was a note-for-note performance of their most recent album, Dysnomia, a fluid set of tracks that reads more as a 47-minute composition.
The music itself was pure rhythm, featuring rhythmic modulations that suggest both African drumming patterns as well as the non-Western rhythmic modes used by Ligeti and Messiaen. One performer's rhythmic phrase was taken up by another; the pianist played simple lines with one hand and muting strings inside the piano with the other; and the bassist would be just on the far side of a half beat or half step away from the other members. The mercurial rhythms often seemed simple to the ear, but once you tried to keep track of the group's overall pulses you found yourself ever so slightly off as the subtle rhythmic fluctuations ascended and took control.
It is difficult to address a specific performance from this group, because their show was meant to be identical to the record. This means the only real judgement to be made is whether or not they achieved this (and, of course, whether or not you like the album). On Saturday, despite a windy island day and looming rain clouds, they pretty much nailed it. The minute shifts and details made the piece a feat of both physical and mental elasticity. Despite mics that picked up both the wind and unwanted sounds from the performers and stage area, the performance had every disjointed odd rhythm and muted piano string in place. Most fascinating was dual use of piano and bass harmonics, which blended to create some unique, exotic instrument.
What was lacking from the performance was a truly satisfying release of tension. The group often buildt up to what could be called a climax, but instead of a release there was more of a plateau, followed by a gradual decline in energy. Even as the music shifts evolved and new material came and went, the energy rarely changed—the interest that was left was solely timbral. While Dawn of Midi's rhythmic explorations did put a nice focus on some of the less-examined aspects of music, it unfortunately did so at the expense of traditional musical values.
Rite of Summer performances throughout the season are always free; a schedule of future events can be found here. More pics from the show here.