Done literally with everyday objects you could find in anyone’s garage, Kate Carr‘s Rubber Band Music exploits the various pitches and timbres you can obtain from rubber to then manipulate them via electronic means.
Rubbery textures, unnerving and desolate
I hope I was not the only one, as a kid, who would go crazy over rubber bands; aside from flinging them at your parents, the magic of stretching and tightening them to also play them like a bass was pretty enveloping. Truth be told, I say “as a kid” solely because I’m embarrassed to admit I still do all these things now, and now I’ve just outed myself as a rubber band enthusiast. I do not seem to be the only one though, as Kate Carr also seems to appreciate the potential of rubber bands as instruments.
If you’re looking for some truly electroacoustic music, if some electroacoustic purists out there exist, then this is the one album that will have you frothing at the mouth. Done literally with everyday objects you could find in anyone’s garage, Kate Carr‘s Rubber Band Music exploits the various pitches and timbres you can obtain from rubber to then manipulate them via electronic means. I’m not sure if every single sound you hear on this LP comes from rubber bands—though my bet would be an absolute yes, even if I can’t know for certain, it sure sounds like it—but if they do, you may wonder how such alien sounds could derive from just that. The display of different timbres is pretty remarkable, and although you can play melodies with rubber bands, Carr focuses mostly on the atmospheric side of things with this experiment. There’s some clicking noises, some background noise occasionally, some sharp and almost metallic sounding tones, and the most prevalent being the really fluid and—also literally—rubbery textures that are almost always at the forefront. The music that comes out of that ends up being really unnerving and desolate.
The opening “bright lines stretched thin” is the album’s highlight for me, as it starts off with an atmospheric segment that may seem like a random dark ambient piece, to then showcase what the album can truly offer by introducing sounds that are properly recognizable as rubber bands. I really like this introduction, as it stretches a bit to settle an initial mood that really is only introductory, allowing for a nice contrast.
“spring back and creak” is more tied together instead, following an approach that’s more focused on just one type of atmosphere. It also ends up being one of my favorites, as it settles the atmosphere best. There’s nothing snapping out in this tune, just these really palpable rattles that seem to never fade away; it is always eerie and tense, making it one of the most successful in terms of unease.
A dominance of textures ::
Another favorite ends up being in the latter half, “of rubber trees and sap.” This is the only piece where tonality is key initially, where there’s almost a bassline being established, sounding oddly close to a double bass. The piece consists of just that first, leaving one of the least ambient parts of the record to shine for quite some time, but as it progresses it eventually flicks back to a dominance of textures; there’s again some oddly metallic rattling, as well as plenty of meaty background drones—which are actually just the lower notes of the rubber bands that are still echoing away.
The rest of the record doesn’t resonate with me as strongly as these three standout tracks. I do find it a bit homogenous—not just due to the shared atmospheric elements, but also because many tracks tend to simply start and end without much variation or development. There’s little times where the pieces seem to want to snap into a climax or are building up to something, rarely bending around the same way of presenting themselves, beginning and ending rather abruptly. That leaves a lot of space for the timbres for sure, but it can occasionally come off as just a showcase rather than a collection of fully extended ideas.
So, while I think this is one of the most conceptually exciting records I’ve heard this year, the final result didn’t fully connect with me. I hope Carr will dig back up these magic noise boxes in the future, maybe for a more intricate second offering. For now, Rubber Band Music stands out as one of the most intriguing records I’ve heard this year—its unique sonic character certainly caught my attention.
Rubber Band Music is available on Flaming Pines. [Bandcamp]
