Distich is a new disc featuring violist Mat Maneri and pianist Denman Maroney. Unlike many projects by each musician, the music on this disc is completely improvised, which brings in new aspects of each musician’s approach, while retaining their significant strengths.
According to Roger C. Miller, a former student of Denman Maroney and an important musician in his own right, “There are no rhythms in the traditional sense in this music. But rhythm runs through it like the pulsing of a pond in summer. Living, non-linear (life is constantly full of non-linearity). Try track 7, 'Span'—this is a pretty wet environment—the stability of land is nowhere to be found. But there is plenty going on for those who have ears to hear it. This is a lot closer to representing life than Beethoven's 5th or Madonna's ‘first time.’
As a pianist, I have delved into the 'prepared' world, and I find Denman's technique fascinating. His Hyperpiano is, essentially, heavy metal. There is no heavier instrument (you try moving one of those!): the soundboard, the tuning pins, the strings are all metal. You can hear the metal in Denman's work; it is as much like machinery gone haywire as the cells in a tree dividing during the first warm days of spring.
If Denman's metallic glissandos obliterate any sense of dividing the octave into 12 discrete parts, then Mat's micro-tonalities eradicate superficial civilization every bit as much, even when he's not the one leading the glissando slides down those slippery slopes. And the two together create an extremely pleasantly disorienting reorientation of the hearing system.”
The recording, which was recorded, mixed, and mastered in the 24 bit domain, includes liner notes from Roger C. Miller, perhaps best known for his work with Mission of Burma and Birdsongs of the Mesozoic.
-from the Nuscope Recordings website