ACCELERA DECK "Ipsissima Vox"
Scarcelight Recordings | SLR04 | CD | 2003

It is Chris Jeely who hides behind the Accelera Deck, an American who has gained rich experience considering his other projects, too - Your Favorite Horse, or Plateau September. "Ipsissima Vox" , which translates as "the very voice", is a package of excerpts from his works from summer 1993 to spring 2003. It suggests that we deal with a kind of 'sum-up' record, but this opinion might be seen as somewhat misleading. In general, you listen to it without any discomfort so typical of jubilee records because the contents of "Ipsissima Vox" are concise, without severe diversities in styles and tonality. Should we presume then that Chris Jeely did not experience any turning points in his musical career? I guess he did, but the selection of his works for the record makes the gap between one period and another almost unnoticeable. The beginning is calm enough (generally "Ipsissima Vox" has a calm character) - a guitar twanging a la John Fahey, or Jim O'Rourke with the accompaniment of actively changing electronics. The second track is probably the richest in sound textures of all, where things change like in a melting-pot from one extreme to another. As the record progresses, it reflects the main trend of Accelera Deck works (when comparing the proportions of 'quiet' works of the recording to other kinds) to calm and dark areas - a whole palette of micronoises, waves of sounds, barely audible hums, glitches, ambient landscape, it's enough to say that noise elements are generated even with a help of minimalist means (would you believe Morr Music used to have Accelera Deck in their roster?). Sometimes, we happen to find familiar guitar improvisation, but mere single islands they are. All in all, it's a record worth your attention, with attractive mood and many audio details for discovery. Good!!!

[krzysztof sadza]