Sauna Music (Ongoing Box) contains a series of improvisations laid down on pitched percussion instruments.
As someone who spends a lot of time around words, I am embarrassed to admit that I did not until this morning think very closely about the meaning of the word “percussion.” I knew that to percuss something meant to tap it sharply, but my brain failed to make the connection between the two word forms, and I assumed that percussion instruments were used solely to keep time or rhythm. A percussion instrument is actually defined as any instrument that generates its sound when struck, which means that bells are percussion instruments. Puckish and melodic percussion instruments. On Sauna Music, David Bernabo uses block bells and Gamelan strips–both of which sound like pitched train signals and look like ancient metal ingots that someone would steal in a heist movie–along with Chromatic Aquarion–which elicits gentle raindrops of sound from arranged glass bars–to create an atmosphere of wandering brightness. “Doorless Cottage” is the longest piece, and moves through an impressive array of moods and figures for such a minimal setup. It’s like a massage for the brain.
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