"Messages On Bits Of Bone" from Duane Pitre's new solo album "Omniscient Voices" - Out Nov 19th, 2021 on IMPREC.
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Press on "Omniscient Voices":
"...a complete, immersive work, a blissful pulsing conversation between the organic and the electronic ... you feel warm and safe and that when it’s over you need to play it again." - 5 stars from Mojo Magazine

"Pitre's understanding of minimalism is laudable, and his use of tuning unique and expressive. 'Omniscient Voices' is an absorbing record that slowly reveals itself until it's firmly lodged in the frontal lobes." - Boomkat

From IMPREC:
Duane Pitre returns to Imprec with Omniscient Voices, an articulate, intense and emotionally resonant set of five pieces for justly tuned piano and electronics.

Omniscient Voices is a uniquely distinct work that follows Pitre's trilogy of releases which culminated with 2015’s Bayou Electric and included the critically acclaimed Feel Free (2012) and Bridges (2013) albums. Where those albums were rooted in long form pieces, Omniscient Voices is a collection of shorter pieces, offering more harmonic variety than previous works, with a unique sound and feel that is still unmistakably the work of Duane Pitre.

In 2019, after a five year period where Pitre did not focus on outward facing music, but instead on his own personal practice, a small idea in the form of a question came to him: would the combination of his latest computer- and electronic-based experiments, used in conjunction with justly tuned piano, produce interesting results; simply put, would it “work”? Concurrently, Pitre was studying a handful of Morton Feldman scores for their focus on tonal clusters, reading a book on Arvo Pärt’s life and work, and contemplating the pulse-based rhythms of Steve Reich and Phillip Glass.

In 2020, with no intention of making a new album, the composer tried to answer this question. The results would spawn five pieces that would become Omniscient Voices. On this new work, Pitre finds himself giving equal priority to both piano and electronics, utilizing his Max/MSP-based generative network to real-time convert precomposed piano motifs, into data, which is then used to communicate with two polyphonic, microtonal hardware synthesizers whose patches Pitre authored; this process generates the electronic component of the album. Pitre also utilizes controlled improvisation to interact with the piano-reactive electronics in a spontaneous and inspired manner, going back and forth between these two pianistic approaches. In all, this approach creates a “musical feedback loop” of sorts.

Despite Omniscient Voices being the culmination of 15 years of hard work and inspiration, this beautiful album somehow materialized in a natural, intuitive and effortless way (like any artist's best work.)

Mastered and cut by Golden and pressed at RTI for maximum fidelity.

Artist's statement:
“When making the pieces that would become Omniscient Voices, I often viewed the piano as human action, a single note becoming a single gesture that has the potential to change the electronic environment, the electronics becoming the environment surrounding that human in the natural world, who then has the power to change their actions based on their surroundings. All actions have consequences. The interconnectedness of everything. Single actions making waves of change.”

RIYL: Arvo Pärt, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich, Phillip Glass

Omniscient Voices

Messages On Bits Of Bone (from "Omniscient Voices" LP)

PITRELEH is the collaboration of Duane Pitre & ELEH.

"Enclosure: Wave Ramp" is side B of their debut LP, available on Important Records. Buy here: http://importantrecords.com/imprec/imprec384

Pitreleh use high resolution analog and digital tools to create music utilizing natural vibrations and harmonics as rhythm and melody. Inspiration is drawn directly from vibrational waves (sound, gravity, water).

The electronics, of which both pieces are constructed, are tuned using pure intonation which utilizes the prime numbers: 1-3-5-7.


PITRELEH - ENCLOSURE: WAVE RAMP (excerpt)

Duane Pitre
Feel Free: Live at Cafe OTO
14 June 2012

Audio excerpt from the live sextet performance of "Feel Free" at Cafe OTO on 14 June 2012.

Duane Pitre - computer (electronics & guitar) & composition
Jennifer Allum - violin
Oliver Barrett - cello
James Blackshaw - hammered dulcimer
Jesse Sparhawk - harp
Guillaume Viltard - contrabass

Feel Free: Live At Café OTO (excerpt)

Duane Pitre + Jon Mueller - "Inverted Torch"
Album sampler of Pitre's collaboration w/ Jon Mueller. Released November 2014 on LP (Type Records).

Jon Mueller - struck gongs
Duane Pitre - bowed cymbals

Recorded August 2013 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by Shane Hochstetler at Howl Street Recording.
Produced, assembled, and mixed January-March 2014 by Duane Pitre. 
Mastered by Altered Ear.

Side A:
"No Longer of Our Time"
The title of this piece is taken from the poem The Inverted Torch by Edith Matilda Thomas (1890). As the poem discusses changes within the universal force of life, some of which are only partially influenced by human action, the piece utilizes, and is arranged, by Pitre’s generative Max patch to create a sense of movement and time that is also only partially influenced by human action.

Side B:
"A Fading Light Within Its Place"
With this title also taken from Thomas' poem, the piece focuses more on the human element of time and action, as it is a collage of real-time collaborative performances. Noticing the differences as well as the similarities between these two pieces sheds light on the effect that humans have in situations, and serves as a reminder that light has a limited time in each place it shines.

Inverted Torch (album sampler)

Duane Pitre + Cory Allen 
"The Seeker and The Healer"

Album sampler from Pitre's collaboration album w/ Cory Allen.

Side A: The Seeker
Side B: The Healer 

Duane Pitre: Bowed Guitar, Piano
Cory Allen: Piano, Harmonium, 49-Stringed Drone Harp

Produced by Cory Allen
Recorded at Estuary Recording Facility
Mastered by Altered Ear 

The Seeker and The Healer  (album sampler)

Bayou Electric
by Duane Pitre

Seven minute promo excerpt/arrangement of "Bayou Electric," a 48+ minute composition/album by Duane Pitre for synthesizers, sine tones, amplified violin/viola/cello, field recording and custom software. 

Release date: 9/4/2015 via Important Records on LP/CD

Written/recorded/reconfigured/mixed July-October 2014, New Orleans. Dedicated to Pitre's family: past, present and future.

"Bayou Electric" is the final installment in an unplanned trilogy, with "Feel Free "and "Bridges" making up the first and second installments in the series, respectfully. All three works share similar characteristics, compositional processes, alternate tuning schemes, instrumentation and a certain ethos that the composer views as cohesive whole. There is a progression toward refinement over the course of this trilogy, in the overall "sound" of the albums and in their dependence on other musicians to realize them (each less dependent than its predecessor). "Bayou Electric," which contains a single, calming and cathartic composition (of the same title), brings this cycle to a gentle and unhurried finale.

The field recording utilized in "Bayou Electric"  was captured on a late night in August, 2010 at the edge of Four Mile Bayou; Louisiana land that has been in Pitre's family since January 14, 1922. Upon listening to what he'd captured, Pitre become enthralled by the fabric of sound that the wildlife on this waterway had created. It evoked many feelings--such as how past generations of his relatives lived amongst these same sounds and walked the same land--creating a powerful connection and a sense of timelessness.

Pitre was set on finding a way to use this field recording in his music, but wanted to do so without simply adding it to a composition as just another layer of sound or by molding it (via 'processing') into something easier to work with. Instead, Pitre decided to start with the unaltered field recording and build the instrumentation around it, in a highly sympathetic manner, with the musical portion becoming accompaniment to the sounds of this remote land. This was the catalyst of "Bayou Electric" and of primary importance to him, as a way to connect to his Cajun heritage in his own artistic way.

Bayou Electric (excerpt)

Long-form piece in five movements (Sun AM, The Carpenter, Yahweh, Koan, Sun PM). 

The entirety of Origin's musical material is comprised of the vibrating strings of Pitre's ensemble of bowed "harmonic-guitars," which are unconventionally strung electric guitars (utilizing multi-unisons) tuned to intervals corresponding with the Harmonic Series, a.k.a. Just Intonation, utilizing the prime numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and 11). No effects processing (pre or post) was used in this recording. All effect-like qualities result from the multi-unison strings (phasing), sympathetic vibrations, combination/difference tones (of the chosen just tuning), and natural acoustic phenomena as such.

Origin will be released on San Francisco-based label Root Strata (vinyl in May/June 2010, w/ CD &amp; digital download in the following months)


Origin (album preview)

"Feel Free" is a composition by Duane Pitre that currently has three possible manifestations: solo performance, group performance, and sound installation. At the core of all of them is the pillar of the work, an open yet orderly system whose intention is to produce potentially infinite variations of self-generating rhythm and melody. This system is created in part by a Max/MSP patch, designed by the composer, which consists of two (unprocessed) sound sources: guitar harmonics and simple-timbre electronic tones (in the solo/group versions, the latter are performed by the composer). 

These solo and group versions of "Feel Free" find the work following a sequence of movements, with each embodying slight variations in feel, pitch material, performance methods, and rules. Blanketing the entire performance are suggestions given to the performers, such as that they should feel free to interact with one another, as well as with the random, real-time, computer generated patterns of guitar harmonics; therefore making intuitive yet rule-based decisions, in that moment of the piece, instead of relying on standard notation to dictate their every move. This approach creates a performance that is unique upon each occasion that it is performed; it is free from its own restraints.

This album preview (comprised of an excerpt of each of the piece's five sections) is from the "Feel Free" CD/LP, to be released via Important Records on 3/27/12.(Also released on this date is Pitre's split LP w/ Eleh, with the composer's side containing a recording of an installation version "Feel Free")

Album liner notes:
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Duane Pitre
Feel Free

Section I
Section II
Section III
Section IV
Section V

Duane Pitre - computer (electronics & guitar)
Jim Altieri - violin
Shannon Fields - hammered dulcimer
James Ilgenfritz - contrabass
Jessie Marino - cello
Jesse Sparhawk - harp

Recorded at The Isokon, Woodstock, New York on May 29/30, 2011
Engineered & mixed by D. James Goodwin
Mastered by Bhob Rainey
"Feel Free" by Duane Pitre (BMI 2010)
Design: IMPREC

www.duanepitre.com
www.importantrecords.com
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Feel Free (album preview)

Preview from split LP w/ Eleh

"Feel Free" is a composition by Duane Pitre that currently has three possible manifestations: solo performance, group performance, and sound installation (sample above). At the core of all of them is the pillar of the work, an open yet orderly system whose intention is to produce potentially infinite variations of self-generating rhythm and melody. This system is created in part by a Max/MSP patch, designed by the composer, which consists of two (unprocessed) sound sources: guitar harmonics and simple-timbre electronic tones (in the solo/group versions, the latter are performed by the composer). 

Where the solo and group versions find the work following a sequence of movements (each embodying a varying feeling) that consist of different pitches and rules/methods for the group to execute them, this “installation version” is void of any performers and is meant to embody a certain stillness. And while the listener may become familiar with what seem to be recurring patterns, no sounds are ever looped, but are rather continually moving forward, yet still remain suspended.

The DP side of the split (sample above) is simply a fixed, 20-minute recording of the potentially infinite (variations and duration) Feel Free Installation.

Feel Free Installation (excerpt)

First Tone - "Reactions" 2LP/Digital
Spectrum Spools / Editions Mego

"Reactions" is the debut album from First Tone, the musical partnership of New Orleans-based artists Turk Dietrich (Second Woman, Belong) and composer Duane Pitre (Important Records). While the project has been at work quietly sculpting their sound for years, "Reactions" is the first available set of recordings. Those familiar with the respective works of the two artists will be happy to find a collection of music that is very much of the duo, and yet totally unlike anything they've produced before.

Over six tracks, First Tone unfurl poignant, flickering compositional works that utilize pitch material that is tuned using the system known as Just Intonation (which Pitre has studied for nearly 15 years) in conjunction with various software and a single hardware synth. The result is a collection of music that is both organic and alien. Layers of tone and texture build and dissolve from the ultra minimal to the enormous, on occasion seamlessly blending the two. A wide array of striking timbres patiently wash over one another, at times sounding like organic instruments, at other times sounding completely otherworldly.

"Reactions" is a masterclass not only in sound design and dynamic range, but also in sonic depth. The album's approach to the usage of time and dynamics work together to create the perception of a three-dimensional spaciousness of sound. The holographic effects produced from the spaces between the album's sounds are mesmerizing, with discreet arrangements that demand repeat listens to fully absorb.

First Tone (Duane Pitre + Turk Dietrich) - Reiterations (from "Reactions" 2xLP)

Seven minute excerpt from "Bridges: Earth/Ember/Serpent," the first (of two) compositions on Duane Pitre's upcoming (June 2013) album, titled "Bridges," on Important Records. 

----------------------------------------

Duane Pitre - BRIDGES

1) BRIDGES: Earth/Ember/Serpent
2) BRIDGES: Cup/Aether/Crane

Duane Pitre - compositions, cumbus, ukelin, mandolin, computer, & electronics
Oliver Barrett - cello
Bhob Rainey - soprano saxophone

Written/arranged/recorded/mixed August-November 2012
Mastered by Altered Ear

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Duane Pitre’s new album, "Bridges," features two pieces taken from a suite of analogous compositions by the same name, and was composed by Pitre in 2012. The two pieces that comprise the album are meant to work together in sequence as a composite work; or they can be isolated and listened to on their own. The title derives its name from the original concept for this work, which was to bring together aspects of traditional Eastern music (such as compositional form and tuning) with Western musical traditions (such as in the church music of the Middle Ages and modern classical music). The result is an album that merges the ancient with the new, while creating a sound that is wholly its own.


Bridges (album excerpt)

DUANE PITRE is an American experimental composer and musician. His work often focuses on the interaction between electronic sound and acoustic instrumentation and also explores the balance between chaos and discipline. Pitre utilizes alternate tuning schemes (with a large focus on Just Intonation), enabling him to explore unaccustomed musical intervals. He works in a solo/ensemble capacity and with Turk Dietrich (Second Woman, Belong) as the duo First Tone.

He has presented and performed his live works across the U.S., U.K., and Europe at spaces such as Cafe OTO (UK), Roulette (NYC), The Stone (NYC), Muziekhuis Utrecht (NL), MoMA's P.S.1 (NYC), The Cube (UK), GRIM (FR), NK (DE), Elaine Gallery (CH), O' (IT), St. Ann's Cathedral (NYC), and ISSUE Project Room (NYC), where he was artist in residency in spring 2009. More than 100 different musicians from around the world have taken part in the performances of his works.

Pitre has been featured in publications such as The Wire, The Village Voice, The New York Times, The Creators Project  (a Vice/Intel collaboration), Pitchfork, Dusted, Skug: Journal for Music (Austria), and NewMusicBox. He has released over a dozen albums on labels such as Important Records, Type Records, and Root Strata.

Duane Pitre

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