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CD Feature/ Tom Heasley: "On the Sensations of Tone"

  Tobias

There has always been something radical about Tom Heasley. And we’re not just talking about the fact, that he decided to release his first solo CD at a pretty mature age. Or his honest and outspoken opinions on some of his coleagues and the media. In his early years, Tom participated in an action with Father Philip Berrigan, an icon of the anti-war movement, chaining the doors of one of the entrances of the Pentagon and spraying the walls with their own blood. It got him straight into prison, sharing the cell with an armed-robbery convict for a night. Still, no action or blood in the world could be more radical than “On the Sensations of Tone”.

More than anything, this is one of the most stupifying efforts to prove the point that you don’t need to spill it out to spell it out: Recorded live in the studio, without the use of any overdubs, here are two tracks, one of them lasting for over fourty minutes, featuring nothing but a tuba, effect processors and Heasley’s throat singing. In his own words, it has taken him years to appreciate deep tonalities, as opposed to the higher regions explored by his first heroes (Herb Alpert among others) – as a listener, however, you are drawn in right away. “Prelude” is a blue sky, with different layers of clouds moving towards and away from each other, a dense ocean of ondulating harmonies and faint memories of melodies. While it works wonderfully on its own, in the context of the album it is a mere warm-up to the stretched-out fields of “Thonis”. Even more reduced, the music shifts as slowly and majestically as tectonic plates, at the same time keeping a distinct respiration – every breath is left to peacefully die down, before a new wave of sound is released. Even though the basic material hardly changes, incredibly and inexplicably, each moment is different – from a solomn and suspenseful introduction, the piece sinks down to a speachless realm of chafing and gurgling noises, only to rise from the ashes again like a conciliatory phoenix.

“Intense” is definitely an overused term, but this album decidedly has a strong physical presence, leading the body into a state of deep calmness, while simultaneously keeping the mind hooked at every second. As you fully immerse “On the Sensations of Tone”, this duality becomes ever clearer: As radical as the approach may be, it is statement of beauty as well. And a very personal expression to boot: The honesty, the outspokenness, the chains and the blood, they’re all present – only refusing to be simply spelled out completely.

Homepage: Tom Heasley
Homepage: Innova Recordings