Raleigh’s Joe Westerlund traveled to California at some point, and the
experience must have stuck with him if Mojave
Interlude is any indication. Consider too that this tape took its form
between August 2006 and November 2015, and it’s obvious that Westerlund, with a
great sense of admiration for them, carefully considered the places he had been
and crafted the music that reflected them over the extended period of time.
It’s true – Mojave Interlude parts I
and II, on side A and B, respectively, carry the dust of the desert
within their compositional frameworks, and whether they stretch out in their
stillness or erupt epileptically like a sandstorm they still retain their
identities. Electronics hover, broken periodically by the madness of
percussion. Brass and reeds bleat life into the night, and sound fragments,
even trickles of water, appear here and there before ceding the spotlight to the
next element. Somehow, these compositions also accompanied a dance piece called
I Am Come for You, choreographed by
Carson Efird – the performers clearly had to be at the top of their game for
this, as their interpretations of this music likely consisted of slowly moving
for periods of time followed by intense freakouts of flailing limbs. I’m also
somewhat of a modern dance Philistine, so I’m probably imagining the comedic
result of outrageous pretension. That’s all in my head, though, because
Westerlund’s music certainly doesn’t waste time or effort getting to a tangible
place where elucidation is fairly straightforward. The cassette’s cover image
even evokes the movement, the restlessness that Westerlund imbues within these
two pieces. It imposes a sense of joy, too, and satisfaction in knowing that
the result of so much effort has reached its rewarding conclusion.
--Ryan Masteller
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