In April 2023, REDCAT, a Los Angeles exhibit/performance space that’s part of CalArts, hosted Pulse Meridian Foliation. It was an exhibit by Lisa Alvarado, a San Antonio-born, Chicago-based artist/musician probably best known to MAGNET readers as a core member of Natural Information Society, which was founded a decade and a half ago by her creative and life partner, Joshua Abrams. While the ensemble’s lineup has changed over time, Natural Information Society has consistently used audio-visual patterns to instigate transcendent experiences. Abrams composes the music and plays bass, guimbri (a Moroccan bass lute) and other instruments; Alvarado plays harmonium and creates the vividly colored banners and paintings that adorn the society’s stages.
Pulse Meridian Foliation transferred certain aspects of the NIS stage show to Alvarado’s exhibit. There’s considerable overlap between the pieces that she puts onstage and those she presents in galleries. Additionally, sound can play a part in her exhibits. Abrams, Alvarado and guitarist Jeff Parker played a concert on opening night. Abrams also developed the sound component of an installation that was part of the exhibit, which has now being released as Music For Pulse Meridian Foliation.
Abrams skips his usual instruments and plays synthesizer. He’s joined by Alvarado on harmonium and violist James Sanders, who plays two overdubbed parts. The strings are situated at either side of the stereo spectrum and mixed high enough to hold the foreground. Each viola track slowly arcs away from and curls back toward a just-above-subliminal synthesizer pulse that’s anchored by widely spaced kick-drum reports. The harmonium’s shivering tones puff in and out of the mix like a centering breath as the two violas move in and out of close harmony with each other.
While the music’s contemplative ambience and barely perceptible rhythms differ from NIS’ forthright patterns, there are some commonalities. One is duration; Music For Pulse Meridian Foliation is almost exactly the same length as NIS’ recent Perseverance Flow, which is also a one-track LP. And both recordings persuasively invite the listener to surrender to the trance. If you’re looking for reliable access to your brain’s alpha state, this recording is your ticket. [Drag City]
—Bill Meyer
