Fellow Chain D.L.K. writer and colleague Mike Vernusky has been "quietly making his loud music for nearly a decade" and yet his musical output is sparse and sporadic. As a composer he is the equivalent of a reclusive hermit or a holy medicine man who only really comes out when he's got something important to say. Granted, there are even more un-prolific artists out there (after all his debut "Blood that Sees the Light" is only from 2006), Vernusky is a deep thinker who dwells on his musical ideas for long periods of time before, as he says, "rushing anything to the public ear". In fact I was almost surprised to find out that he had something ready so soon after what he defined a life-changing experience and inspiration (seeing Richard Foreman's theater show "Astronome: A Night at the Opera" based on Zorn's music). "Music for Film and Electro-Theatre" is no doubt inspired by that event and his subsequent study of Foreman's work. Other artists that came to my mind while listening to this album were Ben Frost, Artemiy Artemiev, Pan Sonic, Asmus Tietchens... The music is diluted, long, slow, engulfing and somber. Very cinematic and layered, requiring your full and undivided attention and focus in order to transcend and move beyond the passive listening experience. Induced, surreal and suggested states are sometimes complemented or even extrapolated by the use of live improvising actors who depict scenes that will play out in the imagination of the listener sculpted by the surrounding ambiance brought forth by context they are presented in.
This album features two electronic pieces, two scores to films by Daniel Maldonando and two previously staged theatrical works by Vernusky's Texas and Philadelphia based electro-theater enxemble Electric Wolf, who staged productions in several cities internationally, with the help of playwright Greg Romero.
Definitely worth your time and buck if you are interested in expanding your vision and stimulating your imaginative mind.