Endless Field: Alive in the Wilderness
Biophilia Records

To record their sophomore release, the New York-based instrumental duo of guitarist Jesse Lewis and bassist Ike Sturm ventured outdoors, specifically to the sweeping wilderness of Southern Utah. To call the undertaking intrepid hardly captures it: recording the release's seventeen live tracks sometimes involved all-day hikes to remote locations, the treks rendered even more onerous when instruments and a solar-powered recording rig were hauled with them (note that the two were accompanied by an engineer plus photographers and videographers who documented the project). Physical aches, fatigue, and dehydration were also factors, and insects were plentiful too. So why do it? In Sturm's words, “Once a dream emerged around a live outdoor recording, we knew it needed to happen.” Even more important was the mindfulness the experience encouraged, something the recording documents in the immediacy of the performances. A genuine impression of place informs the recording, each piece a real-time document incapable of being captured the same way twice.

Serenity permeates many a performance, eight of the pieces co-composed by the duo and the rest free improvs. Endless Field's sound entices in coupling Lewis's steel-string acoustic-generated finger-picking with Sturm's resonant upright bass pulses (a slightly different sound emerges in “Heart” and “Dust” when he exchanges it for acoustic bass guitar). Maximum clarity is achieved with only two instruments involved, which also allows room for ambient details to form vivid parts of the picture. Sounds of insects and water regularly surface, with some recordings made by a waterfall and near a babbling brook, streams, and rivers. Rounding out the presentation, the two also play homemade foot percussion, with bells and cymbals adding to the effect. Since the group's formation, Lewis and Sturm have clearly cultivated a telepathic connection that comes through in the meticulously executed intertwine of their playing. Track sequencing generally alternates between composed pieces and improvs, the latter the shorter of the two.

Alive in the Wilderness seduces the moment “Life on Earth” initiates the album with a flowing lilt and the warm lyricism of the duo's performance. Both play aggressively, bass matching the guitar for power and prominence, in this celebratory overture. However much the bass functions as backup in other contexts, in this one it's on equal footing to the guitar. Freeform by comparison, “Wind” eschews formal song structure for a wild improv that sees bass accompanied by thrashes of percussion and bird calls.

That “Zim” was conceived as a Lewis homage to Zimbabwean inspirations Oliver Mtukudzi and Chiwoniso Maraire is intimated by the insistent rhythm that powers the material's swing; funkiness likewise pervades the ear-catching “Dance of the Bee.” If “Wolfhead” sounds especially emotional in the mournful quality of Sturm's unaccompanied bowing, it's explained in part by the fact that it was recorded on the fifth anniversary of his father's passing. Adding to the music's impact, it was recorded in a slot canyon, resulting in an expansive, reverberant sound. With crickets a nocturnal backdrop to Endless Field's dignified expression, the poignant setting “Old Man” regards our elders with reverence and affection.

While a few moments in “The Well” suggest some kinship with the American Primitive school, Endless Field stakes out its own distinctive territory on the recording, influences traceable but never overriding. As interesting as the recording in general is, it's lyrical folk pieces such as “White Pond Sun,” “Life on Earth,” and the sombre closing meditation “Prayer for the Earth” that prove most rewarding. In keeping with the integrity of the project and their commitment to environmental activism, the duo are donating all proceeds from the album to the Natural Resources Defense Council, Lewis and Sturm wanting to do their part to help protect the wilderness areas where the material was recorded. The gesture reflects not only the magnanimous nature of the creators but bolsters the impression of authenticity established by the recording.

August 2020