2010 EP: Bellorifica

2010 EP: Bellorifica : Starfield has released a three track EP from James Asher and Arthur Hull.

My annual get-together with Arthur Hull came a little earlier than usual in the year, but was a period that suited us both. Arthur flew in from Dubai - an early stop on his tour - and flew out at the week's end to Norway. His unique blend of playfulness was as apparent as ever, and also he brought with him his 'Red Book' of favourite rhythms. We didn't have enough time to go into them in depth this year, but hope next year to do so. Though he champions culturally non-specific rhythms in the context of drumcircles, he strikes me as having a profound knowledge of many different rhythms, and it's always a joy to tap into this.

He had brought with him a gorgeous set of five pentatonically tuned bells, custom made for him by Pete Engelhardt. This prompted our first collaborative piece - 'Bellorifica', which also has become the title of our three track EP from this year. Being in a very major sounding tuning they prompted an upbeat tune, which was further accompanied by both Arthur on congas, and my first outing on the beguiling Tanglewood acoustic guitar I bought this year, along with other keyboards and percussion. My guitar playing is rudimentary, but is as an instrument has always been a great personal favourite.

Our second piece, 'Hangsters', evolved around the hangdrum. It has a mysterious kind of quality to its chosen pitches, and Arthur found a series of interweaving melodic phrases that created a wonderful base for further play on flute and string sounds. Its melancholic and reflective flavour make a pronounced contrast to the previous track.

Finally we had been exploring ceremonial flavoured drum rhythms, and one of these somehow naturally invoked the distinctive flavour of Egypt - in a grand kind of way. With the addition of saz and nay flute sounds, the music soon evolved a potent sense of occasion, whose depiction aptly gained the title 'Egyptian Ceremony'.

The 2010 EP is now available to download in mp3 format from the download area!

Credits : Recorded at Starfield Studios, Eastbourne, Sussex 2010. All compositions by James Asher and Arthur Hull.