~ VAS ~

Sedayne Astray Volume Two



Disk One / Wilderness / 75.03

i) Beaker Simulacra 1 : Hunting & Gathering / 8.04
(cymbals / end-blown & cross-blown flutes / bells / pots / gongs / stones & trees)

Beaker simulacra came out of speculations on the musical properties of the eponymous vessels used by the prehistoric Beaker culture who carved the rocks with their cup & ring patterns circa 1600 BC; having no kiln to investigate, I opted for plant pots instead...

ii) Nowt But Familiar Land (Astray '93 Part Two) / 9.25
(dholak / birds / crwth / flutes / rain / spoken word)

a) fallen the year cracks bright / morning rages / october again / in a dark split day / as broken as risen the prayer of this becoming / awaiting furrows / eroded stone / rain and sea / hand and breath / where skin waits to hook the blood / set that spark to blaze / and we'll be brighter yet by that hearth sure / there gathered / leaving empty mouths / gazing / clutching / dark the fire cold / hand and breath / where skin waits to hook the blood

b) fallen the year cracks bright / morning rages october again / in a dark split day / as broken as risen the prayer of this becoming / awaiting furrows / eroded stone / rain and sea / hand and breath / where skin waits / to hook / the blood / set that spark to blaze the kindling / and we'll be brighter yet by that hearth sure / gathered / leaving empty mouths / gazing / clutching / aye dark the fire cold / my heart the redder yet / and touching nowt but familiar land / and touching nowt but familiar land

(text written October '93 whilst shivering in a freezing rain on Dod Law, Northumberland, in search of prehistoric cup & ring carvings; music recorded the following day, still shivering...)

iii) Libation / 3.16
(wind chimes / harmonic pipes / antler bone whistle / bell)

iv) Crwth Call 1 / 5.26
(crwth / antler bone whistle / rain / flutes / birds / dholak / rattles / bells / voice)

v) Beaker Simulacra 2 : Orion / 9.23
(pots / alto clarinet / gongs / cymbals / goat)

vi) October Bird Dance 1 / 5.42
(berimbau / angklung / dholak / whistle flutes & birds)

vii) Plough Song / 2.59
(talgardon / dholak / antler bone whistle / bells / harmonic pipes / bird)

viii) Crwth Call 2 (Golden Doors) / 7.15
(crwth / bells / rain / voice / rain stick / rattles / dholak / spoken word / bird / a.b.w. )

as if before golden doors / we stand / reflected as illuminated / ourselves illuminating / radiance at autumn's turning / aye falls the leaf to some darker calling / it folds yet never fades / as we look / but never see / and living is the bright prayer of being / aye living is bright prayer of becoming / catches us dreaming / a while between birth and death / marking out place and purpose / where raging we transfigure all / at the call of this turning / until in our hands we hold the golden key / and there / pass / through / welcome

(text written October '93 on Observatory Hill, Durham, watching cathedral bathed in golden sun set. Note:- earlier mixes of this piece omit spoken word sequence; over a decade on however, it has its place...)

ix) Beaker Simulacra 3 : Polaris / 4.22
(pots / alto clarinet / gongs / cymbals)

x) October Bird Dance 2 / 1.14
(HMRB / berimbau / whistle flutes / bells)

xi) Nowt But Familiar Land 2 / 9.59
(bells / whistle flutes / gardon / crwth / bird / khun)

xii) Beaker Simulacra 4 : Psalm 147, Verses 16, 17 & 18 / 7.29
(pots / cymbals / bells / rattles / melodica alto / Clarke's C tin whistle / gongs / bird)

He giveth snow like wool : and scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes
He casteth forth his ice like morsels : who is able to abide his frost?
He sendeth out his word, and melteth them : he bloweth with his wind, and the waters flow




Disk Two / Temple / 74.23

Note: Temple consists of the original December 1993 mix of the VAS sequence in which certain tracks were sequed in real-time via Alesis microverb III. Added to this are VAS DANS & DECEMBER CRWTH (omited from original VAS sequence on account of duration) & TERAMITZANA SOLA

i) Prelude / 1.03
(alto clarinet)

ii) Ancestral / 6.01
(sansa / goat / bells / rattles / diverse flutes / tal-gardon / harmonic pipes / rain / a.b.w / cymbals / dholak / voice)

iii) November Crwth / 7.34
(dholak / crwth / bells / rattles / khun / whistle flutes / goat / rain)

iv) Otherness / 4.30
(alto clarinet / khun / dholak / angklung / kalimba /

v) Bird See Delight / 2.24
(berimbau / dholak / rattles / birds / flutes / spoken word)

see / delight / see light / and bird sang there / sand / sang the day / where oceans spilled back / oceans failed rage / failed rage city / failed rage plough / failed rage furrow / failed rage come / come dripping and folded / come dripping and folded / foldings flesh / my tongue / come dripping and folded / my tongue / the eye / my tongue the eye and heart of bird / aye in this place / my tongue shall fly out of my head and go as bird from tree to tree / tree to tree / tree root / flew among stars to look at the moon / the moon my tongue dips into light / and warmth / rages / faces / red / an open arse to shit the day / right enough / and a knife to turn the bench to a page / legend / bird / seen there / between gust fuck the breathing wheezing breath torn bird / sang-lung / sing-ling / the flight fallen bird / bird I see you there / pick this stone / flung from lung / to the last point / where might that be? / flute song / flute song / breath rages / tongue chasing / the shuddering rage / tongue chasing the shuddering rage / bird came once / it was the wet / it was the wet fire that burns that brought it / it was the wet fire that burns that brought it

(Bird as elemental trickster; picking the open sores of the wounded healer or else biting the very hand that feeds it.)

vi) Flute Song / 2.46
(berimbau / dholak / rattles / diverse flutes & whistles)

vii) Teramitzana / 5.56
(melodica alto / dholak / rain / rattles / bird)

this was the first ever piece I recorded with the melodica; in honour of this historical moment, the pure solo improvisation, sans dubs, features below as Termitzana Sola

viii) Vas Dans / 2.30
(HMRB / melodica / whistle flute)

ix) December Crwth 1 / 5.52
(crwth)

x) Finding / 2.55
(bells / rain / dholak / end blown flute / a.b.w / voice / cymbals)

a personal acknowledgement to the ongoing inspiration of Atrium Musicae de Madrid's Music de la Grece Antique

xi) December Crwth 2 / 3.52
(crwth / dholak / flutes / rattles / HMRB)

xii) Biblical / 4.47
(berimbau / alto melodica / dholak / bird / voice / rattles)

xiii) Woven / 7.39
(dholak / adapted & prepared guitar / flutes / goat / bells / birds / rain)

xiv) Advent: Psalm 32 Verse 3 / 8.50
(crwth / melodica / dholak / rain / stones / shells / kalimba / wooden bells / harmonic pipe / khun / voice / bird)

For while I held my tongue : my bones consumed away through my daily complaining

xv) Coda / 2.05
(alto clarinet)

xvi) Teramitzana Sola / 5.27
(melodica alto)



All music composed & realised by Sedayne in Durham City between October 1993 & January 1994.