"nice destructive and disturbing timbres. Interesting work" -- Bjorn Cloppenburg.
"Dreamlike. More perfect music for letting the mind wander." -- Rudy Carrera
"wonderful free music, great sound and feel" -- No Mates Ensemble
Please listen here: https://jeffgburekprojects.bandcamp.com/album/dnipro
These are intentional structures of tone, timbre & noise which dance on the edges of the various abysses of our times. And I do intend them as dances.
Working on this album in difficult, evolving circumstances, taking a title from the river we call Dnieper, in English, a body of water that in some sense divides Ukraine into contesting spheres, I find myself at the end of another meditation on vigilance. These are soundscapes of imaginary river out there. Once called Amber Road, where they met, traded horses, other things. Born out of the idea of Democritus, water, wired Lucretian flux, refered to by early Greeks as Βορυσθένης and the late Greeks called it Δάναπρις -- Danapris
Dnipro is a force of nature, let's say. Forces of nature both provide and abraid.
Many rivers to cross. The river not only as an arbitrary border for human conflict hashtag whatever but the locus of modern nation state colonialist models for morals actions as a overflow structure border that erases borders by fiat lux, water from underground, Vulkanic upticks. It renders those states very vulnerable who know nothing about climate change, toxicity of the water and soil. War only further aggravates and further pollutes.
All wars are wars against all living creatures, our extended biome, wars push the ecocidal envelope & meter us closer to the edge of no return regarding climate change. “Every major city in Ukraine, other than Kharkiv, Odessa and Lviv, are on the Dnipro. Naturally, such a situation creates problems in terms of pollution if not managed properly..." "Laboratory tests have found as many as 161 pollutants in the water. Of these, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mykhailo Khorev identified 19 particularly dangerous pollutants, of which nine are pharmaceutical drugs, including antibiotics, anti-depressants, and steroids. This “cocktail” of drugs and chemicals contributes to the particularly heavy buildup of algae observed this year... (2021). War comes on with death, destruction, displacement of species, invisible extinctions. I seek to embrace a brighter message in the light of peace making and peace offerings and through immersion in my work, I find balance that I can share with you (between improvisation and forethought), by means of synthesizer and a klang of prepared guitar, ebow, touches of reverb & radio, my reportage from the fronts within me.
-- Jeff Gburek, 05.05.22
Thanks to Karolina Ossowska for preparing the cover image. The graffitti is my fault, not hers.
