The discography of Celer is quite impressive. Some dozens of releases – self-released or released through numerous labels – have been pressed on CD, CDr and vinyl and received a lot of critical acclaim. ‘Engaged Touches’ is an even orchestral drone work based on field recordings and tape that could be placed somewhere between William Basinski, Janek Schaefer and Leyland Kirby as The Caretaker.

The two long-form pieces of ‘Engaged Touches’ come in one of these well-designed Home Normal digipaks, with a cover photography by Danielle Baquet-Long. Both long-form tracks could be divided into several chapters or themes. All of them are based around a certain loop that is constantly repeated with slight modifications, more or less experimental sometimes. The string-laden drones they created with (probably) processed tape recordings are textured with beautiful field recordings like a train or fireworks. The arrangement of all this is excellently used to image a heartwarming story of travelling. A discreet uncertainty alternates with unleashed romanticism, but never leaving a minimalistic and even abstract level. In ‘Part 2′ especially there is more silence, maybe loneliness, uncertainty but also maybe quietude. The story might depend on the listener’s view, it could be both tragic or melancholic. With some thin drones the arrangement moves to the lower frequencies, brightens shortly and gets back to the lower drones again. Then – appearing from the nothingness – the bright and somehow peaceful strings return. After nearly 70 minutes the story slowly fades out, disappears with a final orchestral loop. A beautiful journey.

A last personal note: it’s always sad when a young and talented person passes away far too soon. With Danielle Baquet-Long also a truly outstanding artist passed away in 2009. So we have to thank Will Thomas Long that he still continues releasing their work as Celer to keep the talent at present. And ‘Engaged Touches’ might be one of their most beautiful albums.

Link

Anxious and disoriented, a pair of ears weave down the sidewalk in rush hour. A fortunate, random turn around the right corner and they slip through a tear in the fabric of geography and enter a cavernous space, clammy and poorly-lit, true, but a place of rest, where panoramic glimpses collapsed from far-flung points on the compass roll by one after the other.

The dreams recalled on the first track of this album unfold faster and change scenery more often than on most of the suites Will Long and Danielle Baquet-Long composed in their short but intensive time together. This is hardly to say that their hazy, looped aesthetic has been abandoned; rather than a collage, it is more like a mood board of aspiration.

“Collection of Fogs and Lading Clarities” is vintage Celer, a lengthy drone which passes by a temple filled with chanting Nepalese, lifts one foot, then the other off the ground and ascends. “Who Feels Like Me, Who Wants Like Me, Who Doubts Any Good Will Come Of This” follows (though concise in sound, Baquet-Long is wildly verbose in naming things), capturing this flight as an effortless cruise upon rising thermals. It is a singular Celer ambient moment.

Which is possibly only trumped by the closing, twenty-minute vision of Utopia, in which a sweet, flute-like melody slowly emerges in quiet relief against an otherwise rain-heavy, cloudy sky.

In all fairness, Jerome Moncada ought to be listed as collaborator for his beautiful arrangement of Dani´s photography, which makes “Panoramic Dreams” an audio-visual experience several notches above the norm.

Link

Dear friends,

I’m pleased to announce that this summer I will begin a self-released 12″ vinyl series, of all original and unpublished music. The vinyl is fully pressed, not lathe cuts. So far the first 4 LPs have been completed (8 tracks total), and will be released one at a time, in editions of 100 copies only. Each edition will be black-label vinyl, in a matte black outer sleeve. Credits will be handwritten, and each copy will be numbered.

I hope that this new series will be positive, and a return to personalization of hand-assembled music. The music will be comprised original recordings made in the last few months of reel-to-reel tape loops, all created using an entirely analog process, without the use of computers.

No samples will be posted, but downloads will be available once each edition sells out.

The first edition of the series will be released on July 5, 2011, and is titled ‘Ever, Irreplaceable Beauty‘

Each copy will be $20. Shipping will be $5 in the US and Japan, and $15 worldwide. If you are interested in pre-ordering a copy, please email me at celer.adr@gmail.com

I appreciate your support!
Sincerely,
Will

All sales go towards the funding of physical releases of out of print, and unreleased Celer and Chubby Wolf albums.

Thank you!

One of the painful aspects about listening to the music of Chubby Wolf is knowing that each song is a snapshot of an artist who can no longer compose. That Dani Long died young is tragic; that she left behind ample evidence that she could have been an important talent is even more tragic. Her widower Will Long told Big Takeover that he has a large archive, and this brief seven-inch single is the first offering from his vaults. Comprised of two sides of gentle, haunting drone, the inevitable truths about her fate cast a pallor. After all, a song titled “Free Time Spent Dreading the Inevitables, Soaring in Availables, Wording the Operatives” does make you wonder what Long was thinking about. The soft, funereal sounds found within its six minutes recalls Stars of the Lid’s best moments, or the quieter sides of Windy & Carl or AMP. The B-side, “If You Love Me…” follows a similar path, but there’s an inexplicably upbeat, sunny vibe to the darkness—as if the sun is peeking through the clouds and gloom and pain. Each Dani Long composition is a rare treat, a delicate jewel that should not be taken for granted, and The Darker Sex is no exception.

Link

Jerry Jones Long, 1934-2011

Dani Baquet-Long’s crucial works continue to appear after her tragic death, and her own Chubby Wolf project is proving to be even more alluring then her considerable work as part of Celer. ‘The Darker Sex’ is the latest archival exploration – and the title explains more than you might guess about the music itself. This is far from simple, easy-going ambient drone – Dani approaches things from a more unexpected, disturbing angle, and the noisy, tape-dubbed shuffle we’d usually expect from her serves only as the backdrop for something far more woozy. Harmonies emerge from the distant drones, and eventually give way to disarmingly beautiful sounds. Fans of Celer, or even the darker ambient material more readily associated with Erik Skodvin’s Miasmah label should dip into this without delay. Proper.

Link

Под названием «Chubby Wolf» выходили и выходят сольные произведения безвременно покинувшей этот мир половинки американского дуэта «Celer» Дениэль Лонг – отходя на время от плодотворного сотрудничества со своим супругом в рамках основного проекта, она находила немного свободного времени, которую заполняла личными переживаниями, мыслями и мечтами, выливавшимися в очень интимную музыку. Тем страннее было увидеть на новом виниле «Chubby Wolf» название «The Darker Sex», подразумевающее (впрочем, тут кому что на ум придет) нечто темное, немного опасное и явно порочное.

Ничего подобного, однако, при прослушивании этой «семерки» выявлено не было. Это по-прежнему неторопливый, свитый из проносящихся мимо звуковых спиралей, голосов и условного ритма эмбиент, к которому так и тянет дописать слово «мерцающий». Гармоничная музыка, не лишенная эмоционального заряда, в непрерывном потоке которой то и дело возникают и пропадают неуловимые образы, извлекаемые из каких-до глубоких залежей памяти, в которых хранятся полузабытые чувства и эмоции. Все, что здесь звучит, так же неуловимо все время что-то напоминает – эхо голосов кажется одновременно отголосками и церковных хоралов, и мистериальных напевов в духе «Dead Can Dance», и страстных поп-песенок, исполняемых с томным придыханием; перевернутые акустические партии, вплетенные в вибрирующий гул,  заставляют прокручиваться в голове сразу несколько до боли знакомых мелодий, которыми они в итоге так и не оказываются.

Вспоминая о продолжительных звуковых монолитах, обитавших на альбомах американского дуэта, «The Darker Sex» легко поначалу пропустить и не заметить – вроде бы только начал слушать, а уже игла упирается в «яблоко». На самом деле быстро выясняется, что этих коротких минут «Chubby Wolf» вполне хватает, чтобы выстроить композицию, затянуть в нее слушателя привычными методами и волшебных образом расширить незначительные (в рамках жанра) временные промежутки практически до бесконечности. Ожидаемо интересная работа от неординарного творца, которого мы, увы, больше не услышим.

Link

Making an EP of meditative electronic music feel like a complete listening experience is a difficult task. Making a 7” that feels like a full listening experience is near impossible. Somehow, Chubby Wolf (aka the greatly missed Danielle Baquet-Long of Celer) pulls it off with this lovely little 7” for Low Point.

With Side A, titled “Free Time Spent Dreading the Inevitables, Soaring in Availables, Wording the Operatives”, we get 6 minutes of spectral hum. All the source sounds and layers are indiscernible. It’s as if standing at the outskirts of an industrial cityscape and hearing the low hum of mechanical and human activity delicately feeding off of one another; there is a harmony to it all that’s only apparent when you stand outside of it. There’s a harnessed beauty, a quiet optimism even, to the song. Even as the title of the song suggests, it’s about vague ideas, intangibles. But it’s also about possibility in the most positive sense of the word.

If Side A felt like the beauty was being harnessed, even the title of Side B, “If You Love Me”, feels more direct. Side B lets it all out. Part of what makes ‘The Darker Sex’ work and feel complete is the sense that there is a narrative to it. The move forward between Side A and Side B makes it feel like, from a narrative standpoint at least, there was a whole middle section to the story that Dani left out; a wise choice too, because it works. Side B feels as if all the layers of source sounds are much more intertwined. Sure, there are still those ghostly sounds that sneak up on the periphery to fill out the sound, but somehow the song seems more at peace, less restless than the opener. And the control suggests that this ebb and flow, this sense of narrative that exists between the two songs, was as deliberate as can be.

Even though only eleven some odd minutes, ‘The Darker Sex’ is a wonderful and full listening experience. This is one we’re lucky to have, don’t miss it.

Link