So Percussion - Biography
So Percussion is a Brooklyn-based ensemble exploring the possibilities of, to put it simply, drumming. The real prospect of So Percussion is much less easy to pin down. Percussive instruments run the gamut — resonant metal, taut skin, clattering seeds in a gourd — of sonic capability and musical expression. So Percussion dives deep into the world of these varied tools to craft and interpret music that is delicate, explosive, beautiful and atonal. One thing is certain, the group plays with deft technical skill and excellent taste and the results are often profound.
Comprised of Eric Beach, Jason Treuting, Adam Sliwinski and Josh Quillen (with former member Lawson White playing a prominent role), So Percussion came together at the Yale School of Music in 1999. Inspired by a love for experimental 20th Century composers such as John Cage, Steve Reich and Iannis Xenakis, the group set out to create dynamic interpretations of classic pieces that showcase percussive instrumentation. Early performances included Cage’s “Third Construction” and Reich’s “Drumming,” a seminal work of rhythmic minimalism.
Composer David Lang, co-founder of New York’s Bang On A Can Festival, commissioned So Percussion’s first widely heard piece. “The So-Called Laws of Nature” is both serene and ecstatically dynamic, performed on everything from large resonant pipes to more traditional instruments. That piece was coupled with “Melody Competition,” composer Evan Ziporyn’s hypnotic tribute to gamelan music, for the ensemble’s first self-titled album. Released in 2004 on Bang on a Can’s Cantaloupe label, the record captures the joyous performances for which So Percussion has come to be known.
In 2005 the group followed with its second album, Drumming. Devoted entirely to Reich’s landmark work of the same name, the ensemble crafts a deep interpretation of this revolutionary piece for various drums including bongos, marimba, glockenspiel and voice. At over an hour long “Drumming,” written between ‘70 and ’71, is one of the first and remains one of the few symphony length pieces created for percussive instruments. So Percussion’s take is utterly hypnotic, executed with warmth and skill and an obvious respect for Reich’s Africanized, minimal aesthetic.
Around this time So Percussion began to strike up collaborations outside the academic music scene. The group has worked with electroacoustic duo Matmos and art-rock band the Dirty Projectors among others.
Amid the Noise, released in ’06, brought a new direction for the group by showcasing the writing of So Percussion member Jason Treuting. By folding in electronic programming and electroacoustic sound design, these original pieces offer an exciting new take on the group’s sonic palette and point to new directions for the future. The CD includes a DVD featuring the music combined with films by Jenise Treuting.
In the following years the group embarked on two site-specific works, Music for Trains and Imaginary Cities, in Vermont and Brooklyn respectively and continues to tour and collaborate with Matmos. That collaboration will result in a tantalizing album for Cantaloupe in 2010.
Focused on the possibilities of percussive instrumentation, So Percussion make those possibilities seem absolutely endless. Squeezing a huge amount of emotive expression from almost anything you can bang on, the group has started to create a body of interpretive and original music that will, in the tradition of Steve Reich, reevaluate the drum’s place in contemporary composition. Through collaborations outside of its initial academic sphere, this quartet should be able to carry its agenda to the masses.
