'KnowingUnknowing' is a CD and DVD by Irish composer and guitarist Benjamin Dwyer. The release features music by Benjamin Dwyer, guitar/prepared guitar; Pete Gomes, film; and Helen Kindred, dance. the CD features Dwyer's "KnowingUnknowing" trilogy, an exceptional example of Dwyer's guitar work. He also plays compositions by David Fennessy, Judith Ring & Peter Moran and Paul Hayes. The DVD contains 'KnowingUnknowing,' a collaborative film work with dance from Helen Kindred, film by Pete Gomes and music by Benjamin Dwyer. This all comes in a 2-colour heavy card A5 size trifold, with metallic ink printing and contains a 20-page booklet with new essays by Dwyer, Gomes and Kindred, with the CD and DVD mounted to the inside covers.

No doubt the packaging is elaborate and elegant. As for the music and visual, let’s start with the CD first. The music is modern acoustic guitar along the classical/avant-garde lines, but not traditional to either. David Fennessy's "Security Blanket" is up first, and the longest track at 17:24. It also sounds closest to what you might associate with conventional modern acoustic classical guitar, employing scales, arpeggios, and even some rasgueados (flamenco strum). Overall, it was fairly engaging, and excellently played by Dwyer, but not what I'd call challenging or novel. Moran & Ring's "Anois Aris" (5:30) delves into more oblique sonic patterns, with microtonal scales derived from ancient Greek music systems, as well as psaltery splicing and layering from tape recordings. Lots of string scraping as well as dissonance highlights this piece. "Enharmonic Harmonics" by Peter Moran juxtaposes very low harmonic strums with mid-to-high range notes played normally first, then on harmonics. There is a good amount of space allotted between phrases to allow the music to sink in, and sometimes the effect comes across as nearly a zen-like orientalism. Several Paul Hayes compositions are next - "Sonata a niente" (6:53); "Non in Fretta" (2:45); "Thirteen Little Things That Touch The Heart" (5:30); and "Prelude for Morton Feldman, 1928-1978" (1:11). Hayes' compositions encompass a wide range of techniques, and often seems like episodic incidental film music, or at least the structure for cinematic purposes. Dramatic tension and pacing are hallmarks of his compositions here. There is also an improvisational quality to numerous passages throughout. While the bulk of the musicality falls closer to traditional playing, there are some techniques that skirt the avant garde. Finally, Dwyer's "KnowingUnknowing" trilogy - Part 1 (9:19), Part 2 (9:40) and Part 3 (8:17) closes out the CD, and it does sound as if it were written for dance. Dwyer employs prepared guitar with attention devoted more to rhythm than melody, although the latter is unavoidable. His compositions are much closer to the avant garde post modernism you might expect, but once again an improvisational quality emerges, throwing some caution to the wind, and going with the flow so to speak. Still, a number of rich inventions are encountered, especially in Part 2, where the form seems less rigidly defined. Even the repetitive parts are curiously engaging, and at one point I thought of Robert Fripp. Part 3 makes prolific use of bowing and scraping, eliciting sounds you wouldn't normally associate with the guitar. Much of it is frenzied and turbulent up to a point until notes become stretched and elongated. But even that morphs into trepidatious territory. Overall, Dwyer presents an interesting, varied and eclectic postmodern acoustic guitar album that is sure to resonate with aficionados of the genre.

The DVD with Helen Kindred's postmodern dance added to "KnowingUnknowing" is something else again. Not only do we see her interpretation of Dwyer's music in physical form, but also Dwyer playing live in the same large room giving a much richer impression of the whole, especially since Pete Gomes filmed this in stark black & white. Part 1 is done blindfolded by both performers, as risky as a highwire act performing without a net. (Okay, no fear of falling to your death, but the possibility of untoward "events" remains.) Actually, the blindfold allows both performers to concentrate solely on their instrument (guitar for Ben, body for Helen) without distraction; an interesting concept, and well-executed by both. Watching Ben play guitar gave me a much fuller appreciation for his techniques, and Helen's flexibility and grace was impressive as well. I noticed that she has certain movements and gestures she likes using that tend to be repeated, and I wonder of this is innate to her style or just the music she is interpreting. As for Gomes' filming, he managed to capture the best of what was happening at any given time throughout in a smooth, artistic way, perhaps more richly and thoroughly than if one were to have witnessed it live.

Although this kind of music (and dance) is not among my personal favorite, I believe it has a vital place now more than ever, as this important art seems to be more and more relegated to the sidelines rather than the influential forefront it should be leading. The First Edition of this work is limited to 500 copies. Reviews of more releases on the Farpoint Recordings label to follow soon.