Eine Sammlung von Elainie Lillios’ elektroakustischer Soloarbeit steht schon lange aus. Keine Ahnung, weshalb man auf eine Sammlung dieser neun kraftvollen Stücke auf CD im Durchschnitt zehn Jahre warten musste. Lillios hat einen eindeutigen Hang zum Mysteriösen, Unwäg- und Unsagbaren, vielleicht auch zum Okkulten, und die röhren- und glockenhaften Resonanzen, die granularen Dehnungen, taumelnd kratzenden Reihungen, mit denen sie ihre Geräuschaufnahmen von Wasser, Rascheln, Stimmen, Kraftfahrzeuggeräuschen, Münzenkullern, Tellerklappern und Stoffreißen in strahlende Vibration versetzt, gereicht immer wieder zum Schauder. Quellthemen – die Wüste, ein Tarotleser, das Reisen unter Umgehung von Highways (Lillios, ursprünglich aus Chicago, lehrt Komposition und Musiktechnik an der Bowling Green SU in Ohio) – treten hinter der Formung eines elektrisierenden Klang- und Raumerlebnisses zurück, und plötzlich durchschneidet tatsächlich mittendrin ein Elektrobeat die Dimensionen.

El sello de Québec empreintes DIGITALes ha publicado el trabajo de la norteamericana Elainie Lillios, Entre espaces. En este trabajo encontramos una recopilación de obras compuestas entre 1998 y el 2007. Es evidente la conexión de la obra de Lillios con elementos como la disposición del sonido o la naturaleza como fuente de sonidos en contraposición a otros de origen “artificial” como el sonido del tráfico urbano. La estructura sonora de este trabajo está cuidadosamente colocada de forma relajada y fluida de tal modo que el oyente queda inmediatamente sumergido en su escucha.

Two releases from two composers I never heard of on the Empreintes Digitales label, home of the world of acousmatic composers.

Her [Elainie Lillios’s] biography reads like a list of official institutions and festivals, which is no doubt to impress the reader, but none of these mean much to me. The music however on this CD is quite interesting. Unlike others on this label not all here is about putting sounds through computer processing, which in this circle of composers often leads to similar results, but the power here lies in the use of field recordings (cars, voices, water) to come to the listener untreated but put together in a radiophonic manner. Sometimes the use of electronics is a bit too much of a cliche, me thinks, but the poetic Arturo and the filmic car sounds of three piece suite of Backroads are quite nice.

From the UK is Pete Stollery, BMus(Hons), MA, PGCE and PhD, a professor of electroacoustic music and composition. His music seems to be build from field recordings which sometimes shimmer through all the electronic processing that is going on. Like with the release by Lillios, things for me are most interesting when it moves away from all the well-known practice of acousmatic sound processing and focussing on primarily field recordings, such as in Field of Silence. In Resound he uses interviews with people and here its is where the music becomes great. It has a fine radiophonic character, with mumbling voices, street sounds and what seems an absence of electronic processing. It’s only with the third piece, Still Voices, that we hear more and more of these field recordings, as the first two sink away in sound processing. A combination of electronics and pure field recordings done well is the closing piece, scènes, rendez-vous, which has a fine soundtrack like capacity.

I wasn’t too happy a few years with the direction this label heading, but these two pick up matters where I like to see them best: a fine combination of pure sound and treatments.

Elainie Lillios is a brilliant composer whose solo electroacoustic debut Entre espaces has just been released on the Empreintes DIGITALes label. For those who may be unfamiliar with the term “electroacoustic,” it refers to a wide variety of electronic music. The genre is somewhat broad, as it covers a wide range of sound experimentation. Some of the forms include musique concrete, computer music, tape music — basically electronic music of all sorts. It is no surprise that she is recording for Empreintes DIGITALes, who are one of the most innovative labels around.

The seven works that make up Entre espaces (“between spaces”) were realized between 1998-2007. Most musicians would probably agree that the biggest hindrances to their creativity are time and freedom. On these two fronts, Elainie has been afforded remarkable autonomy, and the results speak for themselves. With a total running time of 72:53, we certainly get our money’s worth with this disc. More importantly though is the fact that Elainie utilizes all of the tools at her command, and has created an all-encompassing sonic landscape.

The disc opens with Dreams in the Desert (10:45), an evocative title for a piece whose overriding theme is that of water. She introduces a number of intriguing changes to propel us along, all to great effect. One of the greatest aspects of purely instrumental music like this is the opportunity it affords the listener to hear whatever they want to in the tones. Dreams in the Desert is a perfect example. I initially listened to Entre espaces without looking at the song titles or brief explanatory pieces included in the package. For me, the music conjured up images of a journey upriver, with stops at various places along the way. I think it is a great credit to Elainie Lillios’ talent that her music works so well in conveying whatever the audience wishes it to.

The longest piece of the set is also the most dissonant. Stumbling Dance (14:45) begins with some very abstract sounds, which continue throughout. The track was composed in 1998-99, making it one of the earliest of the set. It is also one of the most demanding, and shows just how adventurous a writer Elainie has always been.

There is something to be said for every one of the seven compositions on Entre espaces, but the one I found myself most entranced with is Arturo (13:35). The mysterious nature of the composition is what first attracted me, and as Elainie’s notes explain, this impression was well-founded. “Arturo is a tarot card reader who requests his visitors to ‘please let me answer your questions before you ask them,’ “ she writes. Her musical impression of him is fascinating on a number of levels.

The disc closes with the appropriately titled Listening Beyond (8:20). The otherworldly nature of Elainie Lillios’ music is perfectly encapsulated here. In her own words, the composition “Explores the relationship between sound and silence and their intersection in space.” What is between the spaces? On Entre espaces Elainie Lillios attempts to show us some of the infinite possibilities, and one gets the feeling that she has barely scratched the surface.

This is a remarkable disc.

With Entre espaces (“between spaces”), Empreintes DIGITALes adds a new composer to its roster. This one is a CD, not a DVD-A. Seven works realized between 1998 and 2007. Rather classical-sounding electroacoustic music — water sounds, footsteps in the snow, human activity — but elegantly assembled, and immersive enough to stand the test of deep listening. […]

Although the music of Elainie Lillios is firmly rooted in the new stream of musique concrète-derived aesthetics, her work offers much for fans of other forms of abstract electronica to sink their teeth into. Like the work of many of her peers also documented by Montréal’s scene-defining empreintes DIGITALes label, each piece here is dynamic and gestural, with real-world sounds transforming and dissolving through unpredictable electronic processing trajectories. Lillios favours granular processing techniques that shatter sounds into particles and then sprays them out like clouds of dust or casts them across the soundscape like handfuls of pebbles. While others have employed this technique extensively, Lillios does so especially adeptly, achieving a balance between preserving the source material while conjuring a wide palette of unanticipated sonic colours. Her work often settles into an intimate mode with the use vocal source sounds. Though attractive, this feature can also occasionally feel overly prescriptive and literal, like with the texts in Listening Beyond. Elsewhere, such as in Arturo, textual aspects are perfectly intertwined with the sound world of the piece, only adding to the intrigue. Said intimacy and balance, as well as her penchant for resonant, droning atmospherics and dramatic contrasts, make Entre espaces a worthwhile listen.