Album Review: Free Water Shrew Ensemble - "Bounty of the Floe Edge"
03:53 BST - 09/04/2025
The ever-changing, amorphous output of Portland free improv group Water Shrews (the core of which consists of Emmet Martin on clarinet, electronics & found sounds, as well as Skyler Pia on guitars & keys) has been one I’ve been paying attention to for a decent amount of time now, & this new release of theirs (a live album by the band’s expanded 5-piece configuration “Free Water Shrew Ensemble”) is as interesting as usual. The album consists of a single track that’s rarely harsh or piercing (with the exception of occasional buzzing synths), existing more as a sort of churning, bubbling, dreamlike haze; electronically-processed reeds squeaking & squealing but still not loud enough to disturb the more pleasant sound beds lined with cello drones, pedal steel guitar melodies & layers & layers of effects blanketing the whole thing.
Elements are introduced & fade away in an instant, short vocalisations melting away into insubstantiveness within seconds, the ghost of them lingering for just a little longer. Late into the track, simulated bird calls begin to sound, with the identity of the instrument producing them remaining ambiguous. It’s almost trance-inducing, like something a more spiritually-inclined individual than I might meditate to, & certainly something that’d be acceptable to stick on in the background even if you had guests over. One thing I respect about Water Shrews (in all their forms) is that they do a great job of sonically capturing the damp rainforest environments of the Pacific Northwest that often adorn the band’s album art. Everything they do just sounds mossy & earthy; damp, slithery, chirping & humming with life.
When it comes to free-improv I tend to prefer much harsher & less forgiving listens: the grinding of sharp & jagged metal instead of babbling brooks & moist, overgrown forests; but Bounty of the Floe Edge is still a great listen & certainly something I’d recommend even to someone whose tastes are generally pedestrian.
If you enjoy my writing, feel free to send me money over at Ko-Fi!