Trying to describe this stuff can be, well, trying. I don't have much problem with the sounds-- some tambourine here, sitar or some such Eastern droner there-- but the general feeling is what's hard to translate. Descriptors like "trance" or "drone" don't really do Vibracathedral Orchestra justice, not only because they carry too much baggage to really be useful, but also because they're too simple. I cannot go into trance from most of this music; it's far too boisterous. I hear drones in the mix, but also about a hundred other things.
Furthermore, there's the issue over whether or not communal, cathartic improvisation is something that can ever be translated. What may seem transcendent in the moment could very well be unintelligible in the next (that is, if true transcendence could actually be communicated). Of course, anything recorded could probably be classified as music today, but there really isn't a working definition for the relationship between music and audience, specifically regarding the "intent" of the composers and resulting receipt of their message.
Leeds, England's Vibracathedral Orchestra (or VCO) may not give the message their audience takes from the music much thought. Rather, as Dabbling with Gravity and Who You Are was made from several sessions of group improvisation in multi-instrumentalist Michael Flower's kitchen, recorded directly to two-track, there may not have been much time for big concepts, or even little ones. Another member, Bridget Hayden, offers more insight into their intent: "There is no chord formation that can be planned which creates elation or sadness, or any art which is profound enough to change anything fundamental about a person. There is just a resonance around us which musicians/artists are using or not using."
So, what's left is continuous, non-resolved (or ever-resolved, depending on your point of view) "trance"/"drone" music, though those terms still seem a bit off the mark. The album begins with "Hypnotism of Yr Hips," and from the get-go it's clear that lulling you to sleep with smooth beats and ambient hissing will not be VCO's game. In fact, much of their music appears to work best for jumping and flailing like a Cro-Magnon man celebrating the New Moon. The repetitive rhythms seem influenced by Indian ragas (though maybe that's only because I can hear tablas, tambouras and plenty of tambourine) while a constant phased guitar pumps a fair amount of "noise" into the arrangement. The song lasts about four minutes, and segues without a break into "Let Steam Rule and Luck Lose." Here, the guitar plays recognizable strumming figures, and sometimes even lines resembling melodies. Up to this point, VCO has remained on the same chord throughout the record, and they'll continue to do so. Occasionally, cymbals crash, while other times the tide ebbs into softer regions.
"He Play All Day Long" distinguishes itself from the mass of sound by toning down the ambience, introducing acoustic guitar warmth, accompanied by sitar-like drone. Again, the major chord from the beginning is held, though you'd be surprised at the textural variations they get from one tonality. For me, this is a highlight, though I wouldn't blame you if you missed it somehow. "Fingernail R 'n' B" removes most of the clutter to reveal quite standard (to my ears) Indian mystic drones, like what you might hear in a Delhi mountaintop mosque at sunrise. And just to show you that they have a sense of dynamics (extended as they may be), VCO kicks out the jams on the epic "The Body Is the Arrow, The Arms Form the Bow." Lo-fi, Eastern minimalist terror abounds, as a tambourine hacks away in the distance, cutting through layers of odd strings, low, oddly tuned strings, Byzantine and who knows what other cultures' lutes, and a whole array of exotic percussion. There are flutes, too. Oh, the flutes.
There aren't many bands that play this kind of music-- that is, with CDs for sale. The first incarnation of Amon Düül comes to mind, but VCO is louder (and drastically more musically competent) than they were. Colorado's Biota shares similarities with VCO, but is nearer the avant-garde end of the art-trance spectrum. There aren't many bad things to say about Dabbling with Gravity, other than I probably won't play it everyday. It's not that I find it offensive, or even boring (which is a feat for "trance" music), but rather, droning just isn't an everyday thing for me. If it is for you, VCO offer some interesting translations.
