The Changing Faces of MW Ensemble

Over the last five years, New York’s MW Ensemble has ventured from field recording to modern composition to abstract experimentalism, at times combining the three or releasing concurrent projects of competing timbre.  A vast discography belies the fact that some releases are shorter than coffee breaks.  This allows one to collect favorite recordings like treasures.  A one-hour compilation containing all three field recording EPs, all three 6 Songs collections and Songs for Cello, Piano and a Train) packs 41 tracks into a single hour.

MW Ensemble was launched in 2008 as a vocal project; Apartment or Nepal lands firmly in the field of modern composition, but with singing, akin to recent New Amsterdam signings.  This thread would soon dissipate, replaced by an all-instrumental approach that branched in dual directions: the accessible and the avant garde.  The band also began to sketch songs on their covers, as Cage-like a move as one can imagine.  Contemplation and shifts by 16/15 provides neither memorable title nor constant melody, but it still offers more access points than the recent M7 Experiments, for piano, which stops and starts without warning, winking as it goes.  Op.2 is portrayed by a sketch of train cars, a recurring theme in the ensemble’s work; the 6 Songs series covers boast a common code, while the electronic Oscillations series combines photography with penned notation.

2013’s field recording collections (Alarms, Bells, +, From Street to Subway and Above Ground Train Travel) offer the sound of NYC subway transit, seemingly unadorned, captured by a “handheld device, with the door open”.  Having heard these sounds for decades, I sometimes wonder if the people who made the initial announcements are alive and well, and whether they meant to convey excitement through odd inflection: “Stand clear of the CLOsing doors, please!”  The first set is the most effective, as it offers the cleanest blend of recordings.  One yearns to hear a light mix of all three, eliminating the clicks and spaces between.  Yet in light of the equipment used, this is still a very effective collection, the highlight being the tolling of church bells that closes the first set.  (Note to compilers: the second set is rather abrasive, beginning with construction noises, so those who listen in order will be jolted!)

Songs for Cello, Piano and a Train (initially available on vinyl!) is where the group really comes into its own.  This 2011 set combines disciplines (unless the ensemble somehow managed to smuggle a piano onto a train), displaying confidence and verve.  Softening the experimental leanings found on Contemplation, this short set comes across as contemplative and kind.  While listening, one wonders if the ensemble might consider the ultimate combination: applying for a permit to play in the city subways as trains screech and people walk by, a long imitation of Yo Yo Ma’s famous DC experiment.  The 6 Songs Series (6 Songs, 6 Green Songs, 6 Red Songs) continues along these lines, offering multiple access points, as if MW Ensemble is seeking balance in opposites.  Fans of Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka will be enthralled, as the series veers gently from elegy into darkness (first apparent on “Park” and “Red”), demonstrating a wealth of moods less detectable in earlier work.  And who can resist a track such as “1, for piano and coffee grinder ~G”, which opens Red Songs and seems to sum up all that is crazy and normal about New York in only 68 seconds?

There’s enough quality work present in the ensemble’s discography to warrant a full-length album, or perhaps an album of modern composition accompanied by a second album of experimentalism and a CD3″ of field recordings for a complete package (available to the first 40 who order.)  Perhaps MW Ensemble wants to go the maverick route, releasing EPs whenever they complete them, but the band is a no-brainer for any label looking for unsigned talent.  Just play “Film” (from 6 Songs, below) to be convinced.  They may be riding the rails with pocket cassette recorders, but MW Ensemble is much more than a group of straphangers; this group is a true find, ready to ascend the concrete stairs into the New York light.  (Richard Allen)

Link to discography and all streaming works