In the past two or three years Loula Yorke has made something of a name for herself with a series of modular synth based releases. Salix marks a bit of a left turn along the path as she discovers a beat up old reed organ, forgotten at an artist’s co-op. The organ is in a bad way, neglected, it has become cranky and out of tune but she decides to see what music she can coax from its idiosyncrasies. Inspired by the sight of particular local willow tree, also the cover star, she channels a tribute to it through the worn reeds.
It is a curious thing. By which I mean it is driven by curiosity, by wonder. The music is like a willow dipping its boughs in a stream, turning its leaves in the wind like a shoal. The three tracks becoming progressively longer and more still. The first is a short improvisation, an introduction, titled ‘the carrier bag theory of fiction’ a name it borrows from a forty year old essay by Ursula K Le Guin. Its particular relevance here is unclear but you can easily find it online and should read it if you have not, or maybe read it again, it’s only short. It does not concern willow trees or old reed organs. At least not directly, but it allows for them to work together to tell a story.
On the two longer tunes Yorke is joined by clarinetist Charlotte Jolly and they find their way to a kind of jazz tinged ancient drone. ‘bundle of styx’ is a first take improvisation, Yorke’s efforts to play the unfamiliar and unpredictable old organ balanced against Jolly’s virtuoso command of her instrument. It calls up vague memories of incidental music which echo through it as it slows from its start to a calm and steady end. ‘with the red dawn’ is a more layered composition, Yorke adding LFOs to an organ drone and mixing in her singing voice and Jolly’s clarinet. All elements blending into one another to luminous effect.
