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Duane Pitre Artist in Residence @ ISSUE Project Room, Brooklyn, NY

“Duane Pitre (originally from New Orleans) is a Brooklyn-based, avant-garde composer and performer. His current works explore both chaos and discipline—and the relationship that exists between the two. Pitre primarily works with long-tones and utilizes alternate tuning schemes that focus on microtonality, enabling him to explore unaccustomed harmonic intervallic relationships.”

I have now seen three performances/compositions of Duane’s. Last night’s program, one of four of this Artist in Residence @ ISSUE Project Room, entailed:
(taken from Duane’s program notes)

1. A sine tone “tape piece” that utilizes ISSUE’s 16-channel overhead sound system. The listener’s seating location in the space will vary the results of this work as the sound will be transferred, randomly, between speakers at a rate that allows the listener to perceive movement, also giving a sense of amplitude change, though this is not programmed into the piece itself.
2. A solo contrabass performance from comrade James Ilgenfritz. James will be doing his interpretation of a graphic/word score I created for him last summer (which was from a series of five, titled “Words and Lines for…”) – view page two of James’s graphic score
3. James will then join me for a planned-improvisation duo performance. I myself will man a table of guitars strung with multi-unison heavy gauge strings to be excited via bowing and a high-speed rotary tool. James will again man the contrabass, although detuned for this piece. This work will focus on low-end frequencies and relatively higher register string harmonics.

The first piece was very immersive, and had the effect of a small herd of animals moving over head. The sounds would build and travel, and at times move through you. I felt as though the space had been visited by beautiful sound creatures, who were not inhibited or thrown by the audiences’ presence.

The second piece was very abstract, and was a response to a very unique score. The piece successfully journeyed through several sound scapes, but I must say my favorite part was the simple and continuous sound made with repetitive strokes of the musician’s bow.

The third piece, which was very much the finale, was incredibly engaging and vibrationally consuming. The amplified contrabass had a sound reminiscent of Buddhist chanting, this is is because of “the low end frequencies and overtones, similar to those heard in throat singing” explains Duane. After a session of almost brutal bowing on an electric guitar, the frequencies let loose to bounce off the walls, had the effect of electric seagulls flying above.