Celer is very active these days with new releases, all recorded by Will Long, but of course you know it was a duo of Will and his wife Danielle Baquet-Long, who died in 2009. The music on ‘I Love You So Much I Can’t Even Title This’ was recorded when she was alive and is inspired by Samuel Barber’s ‘Adagio for Strings’, known to be one of the saddest pieces of classical music, premiered in 1938 but gaining much popularity. Apparently right before Barber died in 1981 he said, “I wish people would listen to my other compositions.” Celer recorded their album using tape and laptop, title ‘came alluded to a Morrissey song’ (also a no festival of joy kind of guy) and released on CDR back then. The music, according to Discogs, was recorded using ‘field recordings made of choirs and a string quartet, performing the works of Samuel Barber, at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco,
California, in late 2006’, but all of this is now stretched out further and beyond recognition (I think), but it is of similar emotional depth. This is the music of sadness indeed, and perhaps our mind is steered in that direction, since we know the tragic end of Danielle, but even without that, I would think this is all quite sad music. Each side is about fifteen minutes and performs a fine, utter minimalist flow of drone sounds, which indeed could lifted from string quartet or a choir, but it is all transformed to such an extent that this is no longer to be recognized from the results. Of all of these three new releases this is the one that is the most refined, most ambient music if you will and without much happening. If any of these three doesn’t enforce anything upon the listener it is the music of Celer, and it is something that fills up your space in a great way, either when you play this soft or a bit louder. More interesting, however, than ignorable, I’d say.