Incursion (CA)

Composed over the period of one year from the summer of 2001 to 2002, from Brooklyn to Montreal, and back again, Stil. is Taylor Deupree’s latest solo work, a follow-up to the much lauded CD (in these pages, at least) occur. While occur is characterized by change, by keeping the compositions moving, a little restless and seemingly always in a state of transition, Stil. slows things down considerably, keeping things comparatively static—or so it first seems. Turning his attention closer to loop structures and their anomalies, Deupree sets up a loop, subtly constructed with a variety of elements and beautifully balanced, and then finds a way of gently breaking from that loop to form a new one, a variation on the first… the changes are delicate rather than dramatic, and the four long pieces on the disc manage to leave an impression of a certain slowing down of time. The sound is crisp and dynamic, filling the space with a superb clarity and drawing the listener’s attention closer and closer, until he finally finds himself totally immersed, lost in a loop, in a near-loop, looking for the next break to maybe find his way to yet another, or maybe leave entirely. For its conclusion, the title track features twenty-three minutes of shimmering, rich drones and textures, as still as a cold winter day, but as experienced from the warmth of being indoors; a double-impression of warm and cold, of the simple and complex, of reality and this dreamplace, however virtual, however digital, however formless, having filled my days with sound and wonder. [richard di santo]