Tashi Dorji - The Power of Water (2021)

"The Power of Water" is the document of a brief conference between Tashi Dorji, Ian McColm and Frank Meadows. After years of bill-sharing, tape-swapping and discussion over path-crossing in the southeastern DIY circuit of the mid 2010s, a shared vision of improvised music and a drive to document developed, eventually translating into a crisp afternoon session in the early spring of 2017. The trio convened at Hi-Z Lo-Z, the Asheville home studio environment of Patrick Kukucka, a longtime collaborator of Dorji and Meadows. Roughly two hours of raw tape were captured, eventually providing the excerpts presented here. The shared headspace was brisk, airy, urgent, and light on its feet. A desire for a material-forward, manual approach to acoustic sound lay behind the session and an attempt was made to harness the delicate magnification, unhinged texture and wild momentum in the air. Although a brief snapshot, "The Power of Water" captures a kinetic burst of long-considered plans energetically, but patiently, executed at high velocity.