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AmbiEntrance: Please introduce yourself to our readers.
Cole: In 1991 I heard recordings of the Tibetan monks and the Harmonic Choir's
Hearing Solar Winds and was absolutely stunned at what these voices were
doing. The whistle-like slowly evolving melodies that Timothy Hill and
David Hykes do so well with their voices on that album especially seemed to
cut straight into my heart emotionally and spiritually. I had dabbled in
acoustic guitar during my college years, preferring to play it with no vocal
accompaniment, as I had no interest in the voice.
Soon after hearing those
recordings I began to sing along with Hearing Solar Winds, mostly for the
joy and calmness it brought, and then as an attempt to mimic and learn how
to do harmonic overtone singing. This fascination and practice with
harmonic singing led me to listen to, and begin to appreciate, many vocal
forms including: Georgian polyphony (a la Rustavi Choir), Bobby McFerrin,
Qawwali - especially Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Toby Twining, medieval chant
(especially as performed by Ensemble Organum, Hilliard Ensemble, and
Anonymous 4), pygmy yodeling, the Bulgarian women's choirs, Inuit throat
singing, Mongolian Hoomi, Gregorian chant as performed by the Schola
Hofburgcappelle and much more (it was much later that I heard the Tuvan
throat singers).
After learning some of the rudiments of harmonic singing I
sought out reverberant spaces (mostly church sanctuaries, stone crypts etc.)
to sing in and others joined me for these informal practice sessions. The
meditative effects of chanting long drones and layering with harmonic
overtones entranced us, and the interaction of two or more gathered within
these resonant spaces was spellbinding. This was the beginning of our
journey towards ambient vocal spacemusic.
AmbiEntrance: What are some favorite memories of your time in the Peace Corps?
Cole: Floating on my back in an aquamarine bay with friends off the beaches of
southern Thailand looking up at the limestone cliffs and musing "...Ahhh,
the toughest job you'll ever love, eh??!!!"
There are so many positive
memories of being with various Thais and feeling so graced by their deep
hospitality, friendliness and generousity of spirit. These experiences
began during training when my host family welcomed me to their home. Some
favorite times were sitting together with teachers and others in my village
in Krabi (my assignment second year was in this southern Thai province and
by then I was fairly fluent) simply enjoying the time together chatting.
Even though I always was self-conscious on some level that I was "the
foreigner" and always would be, there were many fine moments where I truly
felt at home in that community, and some beautiful friendships were born
there.
AmbiEntrance: Does this tie directly into your current "day job" of finding jobs for
incoming refugees?
Cole: Yes, absolutely! When I returned in 1987 I wanted to keep in touch with the
culture that had such a wonderful influence on my life. I began to
volunteer at a refugee resettlement agency (while doing special education
teaching full time work where by the way, I met Alan Dow) and assisted
several Laotian families. I had lived in the northeast region (essentially
Laotian culture) of Thailand my first year as a Peace Corps volunteer and
felt very much at "home" with the Laotians I met in the Hartford area - they
also helped me to keep my language skills honed.
Soon I heard of a full
time job developer position at another agency, applied, and was hired. Over
the years I have assisted families from many different cultures as war and
political upheaval has devastated their countries and my original connection
in this work to Laos/Thailand is long passed. I think the "volunteer
spirit" tie remains, as I witness it everyday where I work.
AmbiEntrance: What led you to Suan Mokh Monastery, and what happened there?
Cole: I had been becoming increasingly interested in Buddhism since college and
while in Thailand (95% Buddhist population) this interest peaked. I had
begun meditating and felt that there was much in the philosophy and way of
life from which I could benefit. I also sensed that a deeper understanding
of Buddhism would enable me to understand much more about Thai culture - the
society and structure, the psychology - basically, to gain insight into much
that I encountered in the first two years I was in Thailand.
Several
friends and my then Thai girlfriend encouraged me to spend some time
absorbing the contemplative monastic life, and indeed most young Thai males
ordain as monks once in their lives for a rainy season retreat (three - four
lunar months) as a kind of initiation. So, I investigated which monastery
might be most beneficial, and after my PC service was over and I had
traveled to the Himalayas, I came back to Thailand and ordained for the
rainy season at Suan Mokh.
It was a fascinating, valuable experience that I
will always look upon fondly. It was quite frustrating at times, especially
after adapting fairly easily to the outer rigors, and then finding how
slippery my mind was. I remember the sensory deprivation giving rise to
deafening symphonies blaring in my head while I was trying to meditate about
three weeks into the stint. Also, so much garbage came to the fore in my
consciousness and became magnified until I felt quite stressed and devoid of
peace.
The routine of that life seemed ideally suited to peace of mind and
serenity: Wake up in your tiny hut at 4 AM to a gong, walk to the community
gathering place and chant Buddhist scriptures in Thai and Pali for an hour
or so, meditate, walk calmly and silently with a bowl on a specified route
through villages for your daily food, eat the only meal of the day in the
community area with the other monks, clean your hut and surrounding area,
attend lectures and classes led by the veteran monks and abbott, meditate,
do some community work with the other monks (like constructing new buildings
in the monastery), take a walk and contemplate, gather for the evening
chant, meditate, sleep, and do nearly the same all over again next day.
Sometimes I helped the other American monk ("Santikaro" had already been
there several years after his time in the Peace Corps) lead silent retreats
for foreigners passing through and this helped to break up the monotony. I
chose to go specifically to Suan Mokh partly so that I would have a way to
process with an experienced American, and partly because of the abbott
(Buddhathasa), who was well known and sort of revolutionary in his ideas and
in the way he set up life at Suan Mokh. Ultimately and eventually this
experience led to many inner revelations and to my growing up, and to a
peace of mind that has had enduring effects even to this day - and I suspect
will continue to affect my life.
AmbiEntrance: Can you give a brief explanation just how overtone singing works... can
anyone do it?
Cole: Yes, anyone can do it. When we sing, speak, or use our voice any which way,
there are many tones emitted at every moment. There is a basic tone (the
fundamental) and then there are numerous harmonic overtones above that
correspond to twice, thrice, 4 times, 5, 6, 7 times etc. the frequency of
the fundamental tone. We don't usually hear these tones distinctly in
everyday speech and song, but rather hear the particular combination of them
in the moment as timbre (or tone color). It's easier to hear them as
separate tones if one slows down the vocal changes. For example, if one
drones one note and doesn't change the vowel shape or changes it very, very
slowly one can hear distinct harmonic overtones hovering over the basic tone
without any special vocal technique or development, but rather simply
through careful attention and listening. Once hearing the harmonics, one
can then begin to experiment with modifying vowel shapes and modulate all
the vocal apparatus (lips, tongue, jaw, mouth, throat, chest, diaphragm,
etc.) in various ways to bring out particular tones and let them ring
distinctly. It's a wonderful biofeedback process - an interaction of mind
and body through continual listening, adjustment and refinement to amplify
intended harmonics while suppressing other undesired tones. It's really
very easy to begin hearing harmonics in one's voice but it is arduous to get
proficient at it like say, the Tuvans who ring out harmonic melodies so
clear and loud, suppressing the fundamental so far that it no longer sounds
at all like a human voice.
AmbiEntrance: How/when did Spectral Voices come about; who else is involved?
Cole: It developed from the informal sessions in the churches I referred to and in
the water tower '91-'96 era and continues to evolve and change to this day.
Throughout all the changes of personnel and refinement of sound and
approaches to improvisation, Alan Dow and myself are the constant
collaborators in this project. In fact, about 70% of the track time on
Coalescence is just two voices singing together in the tank - Alan's and
mine. Jim Desmond has been consistently with us performing and practicing
since '96 and Geoffrey Brown came in a couple of years ago, so we are pretty
much a foursome right now.
AmbiEntrance: How did you "discover" the abandoned water tower?
Cole: It was hearing Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening (recorded in a two million
gallon cistern) in 1993 that propelled me to look for such an awe inspiring
reverberation chamber locally. We had been practicing harmonic singing for
about two years in reverberant spaces but they were nothing remotely
approaching this level of ambience. I just knew that taking harmonic
singing into this kind of space would be perfect and lead to much innovation
musically. I went tapping on and throwing rocks at water towers all around
the area, checking out underground concrete bunkers, and called many water
department engineers in towns around the area. Eventually, I was tipped off
by a kind one who knew of this abandoned water tower on land that had
reverted back to the original owner (who had gone out of business so it was
foreclosed and in a bank's possession).
I went there with pipe wrench and
liquid wrench in hand, opened up the hatch at the bottom of this 120-foot
tall monster, and was transfixed by the most gorgeous natural ambience when
I stuck my head through the opening to hear inside.
AmbiEntrance: I understand there was an incident with the law?
Cole: hh yes, indeed! I thought no business entity in its corporate mind would
ever entertain the possibility of allowing harmonic overtone chanters to
enter their property and risk liability etc. As the tower was on otherwise
undeveloped industrial land in the woods I figured if we were careful to
remain inconspicuous (it was a "party" spot with the local teens so we
parked far away in a nearby mall and walked in so as not to attract police
attention - once in there no one would know we were there as the tank wall
isolated sounds so well that even screaming inside could be heard no further
than about five feet from outside the tower) we would be doing no one harm
and our secret would remain unknown.
Thus we used the tower on several
occasions. Well, one night we were with a woman who was about seven months
pregnant and I didn't want her to have to hike through to the space so we
parked on a dirt road that led fairly close to the tower. We were inside
blissfully becoming harmonic when we heard the squawk harmonics of a police
radio nearby. The officer was checking out the car and I went out to meet
him rather than allow the possibility of him coming to the tank scared of
what might be happening inside
Despite my resonant
rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" he cited us for trespassing
(actually "Break and Entry" level of trespass as we had to remove the
bolt-secured clamps to get in) and we had to go to superior court. That
whole fiasco is an amusing story because we tried at first to go without a
lawyer thinking we could just pay a fine and be on our merry ways. When the
prosecutor confronted me with "90 days and $500" and the judge intervened
and asked if we wanted a continuance, I answered "uh, y-yyy-y-yes, uh-uh
y-y-your honor!" (and I'm thinking in my shocked state "What's up with this,
three months in jail and $500 each for chanting in an empty water
tower???!!!"
The end result was quite fortunate in that "randomly" I
happened to get an attorney who just happened to have done some work for the
bank who owned the foreclosed property the tank was on, so it was rather
easy for him to get us off the charges and then I contracted him to set up
an agreement with the bank to use the tower legally. I would like again
publicly to thank Tolland Bank for allowing us to use that tower free for
the two and a half years we had in there before the land was sold and it was
demolished.
AmbiEntrance: I have to ask... what effect was singing the Star Spangled Banner to the
cop supposed to have?
Cole: In trying to describe what we were doing trespassing on that private
industrial lot I realized he had no clue, so using a simple familiar melody
seemed the best way to convey to him the sense of our vocalizing. That is
also why I like to sing first without a mike and amplification in
performances. People who have never heard this kind of singing often do not
understand explanations of it and their eyes sort of glaze over as I talk
about what we do. Thereās an immediate connection and truth in hearing it
solo live directly that dispels any notion that it is a trick of electronics
or a kind of whistling, etc. But, I suppose my promotion/education efforts
with that policeman were in vain as he gave a mixture of looks between
bemused tolerance ("yeah kid, I've seen it all!") and even greater
suspicion.
AmbiEntrance: Describe the scene of the session(s) that became Coalescence and Sky.
Cole: The second time we went into the tower legally and set up to record using my
new DAT machine and stereo mike it was a warm July evening, the sun was
setting, and thrushes, titmice, sparrows and other birds were singing. We
left the hatch open at first because the tank was so hot inside. The first
chord you hear on Sky is the first sound we made that evening, and in fact,
that entire album is from that evening. The focus, wonder and spirituality
that pervaded was incredible! We sang for about two hours, pausing at times
to listen to the natural ambience, but we never spoke during that session
until it was clear that it was all over. We felt so in touch emotionally,
musically, spiritually, and it was clear that something magically beautiful
was happening. Coalescence on the other hand is a melding of many sessions
- more "cuts" in the sense that Alan and I culled very specific moments of
about 130 hours of recordings (numerous sessions!) to create that album and
much of the creative process was finding how to sequence the pieces into a
coherent flowing whole. One of the pieces, "Celestial Tides," was also from
that Sky evening session. When we recorded all the sessions in the water
tower we were simply documenting our mostly informal improvisations, with no
mind or expectation of releasing them to the public (it was only with a
grant from the CT Commission on the Arts that our debut Coalescence was
born).
AmbiEntrance: How different would your recording career have been without the tower?
Cole: Likely there would have been no career to speak of! I cannot emphasize
enough how integral and influential that space was to our singing and to the
overall "Spectral Voices" sound that originally evolved in there.
AmbiEntrance: You've just released Bislama with Alpha Wave Movement; how did this
project originate?
Cole: Andy Taylor at WWUH (West Hartford CT) connected us after Greg (AWM) moved
into the area and was looking for ambient-minded musicians to collaborate
with. Greg and I sensed immediately after meeting one another that, despite
our different approaches and choice of instruments, collaboration would
bring out the best in us musically. So Greg began composing the first
couple of tracks and gave me recordings of this work for me to improvise
with, and it all flowed beautifully from there.
AmbiEntrance: Tell us about your collaboration with vidnaObmana.
Cole: Chuck van Zyl paired us up to open for vidnaObmana at a Star's End
Gathering. After the concert Dirk and I discovered a mutual admiration and
he asked me to send him some vocal sources for his then upcoming projects
(The Surreal Sanctuaryand its follow up The Contemporary Nocturne). He was
very impressed with the 120 minutes of sources I gave him, which by the way,
were recorded dry direct to DAT through my stereo mike in our living room.
When I heard how he melded these into his compositions I was completely
blown away by the wonder he brought out in them and by how deftly he
integrated them into his work. He did a magnificent job processing my voice
to bring out subtle qualities. We have been collaborating by mail since
then and the highlight last fall was finally meeting again in person and
then introducing our "Harmonic Fusion" project onstage together in West
Hartford. One of the recordings I sent Dirk last year was an extended
improvisation on the steel cello and he plans to use it on an upcoming
album. I am eager to hear it blended with his creation! So our
collaboration continues to develop and a deep friendship is growing from
this process as well. I was thrilled to finally show him and Chuck our home
and my main place of inspiration complete with waterfall.
AmbiEntrance: How did you hook up with Mathias Grassow for your upcoming CD, The
Hollow?
Cole: I contacted Mathias to ask if he would like to trade CD's. After we traded
he was keen on having me send him some vocal sources as well. I was of
course quite flattered by this request and when I heard his completion of
The Hollow I was astonished at this innovative creation: the mixture of deep
organic ambient textures (both electronic and acoustic sources) and harmonic
singing is magnificent. This will be a stunning release and I am looking
forward to doing further collaborations with Mathias - to my mind he's a
musical genius.
AmbiEntrance: How much/which of these collaborative efforts happened live vs. how much
was done separately in the studio?
Cole: Greg (Alpha Wave Movement) initiated most of the pieces in his studio alone
and then gave me tapes. Two of the pieces on Bislama were improvised live
in his studio late at night and one track was built up layer by layer at
Paranoise studio. With Mathias and Vidna it has been all done "separately"
except for the rehearsal and concert with Dirk last fall when he came here.
AmbiEntrance: In the case of the Bislama tracks, did you prefer the separate studio
work or the live improvisational technique? Why?
Cole: Live improvisation is dear and represents the main approach of Spectral
Voices and Leland Burr to date. That is why I enjoyed the recording process
with the Bislama project, because it represented a fairly unfamiliar
approach to me. I tried hard to practice each section over and over until
it seemed just right, then going into Paranoise Studio to document it. This
is a very difficult process for me and I must admit there were times when I
utterly failed to produce satisfactory results. Still, there was something
overall more enjoyable in developing this discipline, and it was definitely
most enjoyable to hear the final edits from this approach.
AmbiEntrance: Would it be shamelessly self-centered of me to ask about the Bislama
artwork?
Cole: Shamelessly? No, I donāt think so David!!! Seriously, you produced album
artwork that closely suggests the theme and feel of the music
extraordinarily, and did so with spare instruction from us. I am totally
pleased with it... thanks! I am quite eager to view the artwork you are
doing for The Hollow and am sure it will complement the music very well.
AmbiEntrance: I understand you "make house calls." Tell us about you "home concert
series."
Cole: Yes, I am offering to come perform in people's homes - or anywhere where
they are most comfortable - to provide the most intimate ambience imaginable
for the audience. It can be me solo, with Spectral Voices, or with Leland
Burr. In exchange for providing a space and gathering at least a dozen
other people, the host pays nothing for the concert and also receives
complimentary copies of our albums. Leland Burr has performed at a few
homes with great success, and I envision Spectral Voices performing in such
a home concert at a level akin to the sleep concert Spectral Voices recently
did at Mantic Arts Center in Massachusetts. I believe this kind of venue
has great and valuable potential.
AmbiEntrance: "Who" is Leland Burr?
Cole: Leland Burr is either an obscure 17th century playwright or a
miscommunication with a friend during a phone conversation (ask Larry!).
Leland Burr is an improvisational performance group that consists of founder
Larry D. (keyboards, chong, flutes, broken auto-harp, kalimbas, Vietnamese
clackers, water pan weirdness, and almost anything else [in]conceivable),
Geoffrey Brown (percussion, looping, harmonic overtone and subfundamental
singing) and myself (steel cello, bowed and plucked tamboura, harmonic
singing of various styles, vocalizations, looping). Probably our finest
venue so far has been performing at the Salvador Dali opening and closing
parties at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. We have described our
music as "Surreal hypno-ambient world tribal grooves and beyond" but these
are just words - we honestly never know what music will come next from
ourselves and we simply attempt to respond in the moment to the often
surprising, inspiring and wonderful music that happens when we play. Leland
Burr performs often and we have just finished mixing our third album Hover.
AmbiEntrance: What is a "Winter Solstice Labyrinth Walk"?
Cole: Labyrinth walks are basically where people come to walk meditatively through
a labyrinth (templates based on circuits found in Chartres Cathedral) laid
out in a church sanctuary (in the ones we've performed at so far). The
Winter Solstice Labyrinth Walk of '99 resulted in an album project with
cellist/flutist Kevin Makarewiczcalled Labyrinth Walk Live (it also
includes percussion by Matt Moadel). This kind of contemplative atmosphere
is ideal for kinds of improvising I/we like to do and I hope to perform at
many more labyrinth ceremonies with Spectral Voices and with other musicians
and musical configurations.
AmbiEntrance: Do you have any future projects you could tell us about?
Cole: We Spectral Voices will continue to perform and hope to record some new
material now that we have adequate equipment to "mimic" the tower and other
grand reverberant spaces. I will probably continue to collaborate with
other musicians and explore those many fruitful paths too. There is one
more album to mix and master from the "water tower trilogy" and I hope to
produce it fairly soon. It is called Innertones and features a 20-minute
solo piece (title track) with tamboura in the tower. Oh yes, there is also
my contribution to the new Paranoise (progressive rock group) album Ishq.
That will be out very soon and one piece features a wall of electric guitar
chords with about a dozen overdubs of Kargiraa (the Tuvan guttural chant)
and Terrence McKenna's philosophy interspersed, along with much, much more.
AmbiEntrance: Thanks very much for sharing with us Jim; any parting words?
Cole: Ooooaaaeeeewwwwrrrrrrrhhhhhh!!! You are welcome. Thank you also for the
insightful questions that inspired reflection. I am grateful for the
opportunity you have provided here to share about our music and us.
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