Ken Field

July 11 - July 18, 1 9 9 6 [Off the Record]

*** Ken Field

SUBTERRANEA

(O.O. Disc)

Best known as the reed player in Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, Ken Field spent a week in the desert outside Roswell, New Mexico, living and recording in three underground rooms beneath a structure resembling a Neolithic ruin but built by artist D.B. Anderson. Multi-tracking himself on alto saxophone and percussion, he has constructed a haunting record of his solitude in a marvelous and mysterious location.

The quiet seems to have amplified his already keen sensitivity to form. Each track balances movement and stillness in spontaneous structures that evolved as Field built up layers of music. "Om on the Range" neatly contrasts staccato hand claps on juice cans with alto-saxophone drones in richly textured music that is both rhythmic and meditative. "Thoughts Unspoken" and "The Missing Soul" both use the deliberate layering of slow alto melodies whose subtle nuances of tone color evoke the serenity and isolation that helped him concentrate so closely on each sound. Two soundtracks for short films by animator Karen Aqua round out the album. But the music from Roswell -- in which Field is alone in a space where he can listen to his thoughts, a rare gift in a noisy, crowded world -- is the highlight of the album.

-- Ed Hazell

(Ken Field will celebrate the release of Subterranea this Friday, July 12, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Liberty Café, 497B Mass Ave, Central Square, Cambridge. Admission is free.)