Remarkably, the sound for Artifacts, the first of three compositions that make up Rife, is entirely sourced from a small, broken violin that was a childhood gift to Storring from his grandmother. From these initial sound samples, Storring builds a piece of music that is incredibly engaging and rich in detail. Equal parts virtuosic playing—the violin sounds like a range of stringed instruments, including the guzheng, the rebab, and the cello—and inventive processing, Artifacts is a beautiful assemblage of sounds and textures, moving from one distinct passage to another in a strikingly fluid and intuitive way.
The track Indices of Refraction follows, with a fourteen-minute digital interweave. In this piece, Storring samples a wider range of instruments and moves quickly between different qualities of sound. It is a slightly older composition than Artifacts and Storring is clearly both learning the tools and having fun here, cleverly allowing disparate elements to clatter against each other in a series of surprising turns.
The CD’s last piece, Outside, Summer is Bursting at the Seams, returns to one sound source—his cello—treated with live electronics. The surges of sound move a bit towards the triumphalist, but based on Artifacts, there’s a lot to be proud of, and Storring can be forgiven for celebrating a little too hard in the end zone.
Chris Kennedy is an independent filmmaker, film programmer and writer based out of Toronto. He has programmed for the Images Festival, the Pleasure Dome screening collective, the Free Screen at TIFF Bell Lightbox and he co-founded the Early Monthly Segments film salon. His short experimental films have screened at over one hundred film festivals. He holds an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. More information on his work is available at www.theworldviewed.com