On my first few listens to the four pieces included on Allison Cameron and Contact’s A Gossamer Bit, I felt that two of the compositions were quite good—so good, in fact, that I decided a fifty percent average wasn’t at all bad and started questioning how good something needs to be in order to be good. I worried about that a fair bit as I listened more, focusing on the two pieces that had initially struck me: 3rds, 4ths & 5ths, a nice bit of chromatic fantasia with a wind-chime feel and some subtle harmonica that gives way to a rather elegant violin-and-piano episode and flute passages; and In Memoriam Robert Ashley, which blankets the great and recently deceased composer’s voice in acoustic drones suggestive of (without trying to emulate) his own, prolonged voice-and-electronics works.
As I was listening—and worrying over my semantic dilemma—something unexpected happened: I noticed myself enjoying the other two pieces. There’s not much to grab hold of in the title piece, which bears a dedication to Ives; but as its softly persistent snare rolls and prolonged flute and string lines made themselves familiar, I found myself welcoming its return, and—if less so—that of the somber D.I.Y. Fly, with its pop-song harmonies and incongruous toy piano. Then I began to wonder if the real problem with goodness is how long it takes to be assessed.
Once in a while, musicians are good at naming their albums, and Cameron’s particular gossamer eluded me at first. It isn’t particularly challenging—nor do I think it’s trying to be—but its a lovely forty-five minutes of melancholy.
Kurt Gottschalk is an author, journalist, and broadcaster based in New York City. His work appears in publications in North America and Europe, including Bachtrack, The New York City Jazz Record, The Red Hook Star-Revue, Stereophile, and The Wire and he can be heard on WKCR-FM and WFMU-FM.