*2026 stock* "When two desert ecosystems collide, the arid terrain blossoms with thriving biological and geological diversity, generating the feeling of existing in two superimposed universes at once. It is deeply appropriate that Cecyl Ruehlen and Derek Monypeny–living, respectively, in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts–would meet at High Desert Soundings festival in Wonder Valley, CA, not far from where those vast southwestern deserts converge. This fated introduction, along with the duo’s shared passion for acoustic ecology, improvisation, and modal forms, inevitably lead to two different recording sessions in Tucson, AZ. Recorded 16 months apart, each session was stitched into its own cohesive suite, creating journeying structural arcs while retaining the continuous, organic flow of improvisation.
The celestial, harp-like flourishes of Monypeny’s bulbul tarang immediately bestows “February 2025” (the more recent of the recordings) with a shimmering aura of reverence. While Ruehlen’s soprano saxophone spirals through the air, a bass synthesizer blooms from below in slow, breathing rhythms. A growing legion of angelic woodwinds ascends higher towards the heavens with every exhale, eventually materializing into a resonant temple of aural luminosity. Within this sonic architecture, Monypeny’s modal expressionism testifies to the power of experiencing the raw moment directly, whether this means falling into a meditative trance or building up to ecstatic catharsis.
For nine minutes, this movement beams with uplifting, awestruck radiance, recalling the ethereal, triumphant atmospheres of Popol Vuh, Third Ear Band, or Alice Coltrane. The respiring bass tones eventually begin to decelerate and recede, leaving the duo’s improvisations suspended over the abyss. Without that low frequency foundation, their searching leads them to more mysterious and shadowy territory. The shifting textures stretch out slowly as the music ventures into a dark cavern of sound, illuminated only by the torch-like flickering of the saxophone. Processed through a ring modulator, the harmonious bulbul tarang transforms into dissonant bells, whose echoes beckon us through the darkness. What was once an expansive cosmos is magnified into something microscopic and introspective.
“October 2023” begins with a churning swarm of reverse strings and elemental echoes, signaling a temporal vortex projecting us back in time. This earlier session understandably reflects a more exploratory and raw encounter between the musicians. Throughout the track, a primordial sea of sound continuously generates new lifeforms from its entropic processes. Through the thick polyphonic fog, electrified waves of synth emerge periodically to open things up to new cycles. The already wide expressive range of the shahi baaja is expanded even further with Monypeny’s array of electronic effects, including fuzz, delays, and other modulators.
At one point, the filtered shahi baaja gurgles like a sub-bass synthesizer on the fritz, entangling with the energized arpeggios of Ruehlen’s bass clarinet until things devolve into a sputtering breakdown. All excess layers are slowly shed throughout a focused purification process. Trepidatiously at first, the bass clarinet’s improvised themes are patiently developed alongside shadowing synth and fleet-fingered shahi baaja. Eventually, this dynamic triad alchemizes into a prayerful, dignified motif for bass clarinet. The lone voice continues devotionally, until it too drops off into the world beyond." - Ash Ingalls
