The music of Houstons VOICE OF EYE is as formless and ambiguous as it is evocative. Using only handmade and acoustic instruments (no samplers/synthesizers), VOICE OF EYEs beautifully dense and atmospherically-charged work summons shadowy, obscure , and ancient spirits. Their recent releases include Transmigration, which is a meditation on the Bardo, the intermediate state between life and death as described in the Tibetan Book Of The Dead. They have also been active in collaboration with the similarly-minded Arizona group LIFE GARDEN, and theyve released 2 (so far) CDs of these acoustic collaborations. Jim Wilson and Bonnie McNairn of VOICE OF EYE were interviewed by GODSEND's Todd Zachritz in April 1996.
G-Describe how you became interested in experimental music and the beginnings of VOE.
BONNIE: While studying as a flute major, I took a class in Composition with Experimental Media. It changed my musical perception and stimulated my creativity through offering new sounds and processes of work, and a great amount of freedom: any way we could use these sounds was valid. Because anything was valid, it stimulated new ideas. The more we experimented, the more new ideas we had. After experimenting with these new processes and electronics, I felt a need to continue expanding my range, into different areas of sound exploration and experimentation. JIM: I wanted the music that I made to be different from what I heard around, there was already enough of that. In high school I found John Cage and other composers and thought there should be more weird music in the world. So I began making recordings with a jam box and any strange sound I could find. Voice of Eye began when Bonnie and I split from Esoterica Landscapes 7, our former band. EL7 was about noisy extremes in sound, emotion and life. We felt that wed taken it as far as it could go at the time, and we wanted to do more controlled/purposeful music after all that noise.
G-Whats the intent of VOE? Do you strive for certain feelings or atmospheres or do you wish it to be more interpretive/ambiguous?
JIM:Were trying to place the listener in a receptive frame of mind so the music can provide the means to take them on a journey. I get lost in music that has a lot of emotional content, it engulfs me and I have to drop everything and listen, its like good drugs. If the music is going to take you beyond itself, beyond its own limits, it must relate/connect to some part of the listener to make the experience genuine. Beyond this intention I see the music as ambiguous, the listener must provide the rest of the equation.
G-How did the collaborations with Life Garden come about?
JIM:We had met them while on tour in 1992 and we were mutually impressed with each others music. David Oliphant had the idea of collaborating through the mail with us and Crash Worship, but that didnt happen. So on our 1994 tour we played together live and in the studio which was much better than it would have been through the mail.
G-Describe why youre not using synths/samplers/etc. on your recordings. Obviously its a reaction to the wholesale embracing of technology in our culture, right? I have to say, the textures you create organically are quite amazing.
JIM:I wasnt able to get very interesting sounds from the synthesizer, like any instrument it has its own unique sound, but I just dont feel compelled by it. I find myself attracted to natural/acoustic sounds, there is an unpredictable/chaotic element in them. There is infinitely more texture, more history, more of a physical connection with acoustic sounds. These can then be processed into a fine mush of oblivion with digital effects while still maintaining their unique qualities. The search for new textures and sounds lead me to build some of the instruments we play. I think of a sound I want to hear then construct a device to play that sound. Of course you can do this to an extent with synthesizers, but youre always stuck with a lousy interface, a keyboard. Yes, there are pitch to MIDI converters, but its basically just a trigger for the same sound every time. With acoustic instruments you never get the same sound twice, and the interface is so much more intuitive. You are physically connected to the vibrating instrument, your body is part of the sound really. As for the wholesale embracing of technology as the answer, youre absolutely right, not enough people are questioning this new religion.
G-What sorts of music/sound do you enjoy? Anything you think deserves more attention?
JIM:Were really getting into Turkish, North African and Middle Eastern music. Weve been collecting instruments from that region lately. Its really powerful music, very archaic. Listening to it you get the feeling that ancient secrets are being revealed. Music that taps the human psyche, reveals a deeper reality is what were interested in. If music or whatever like this got more attention wed evolve our consciousness more than the record executives would like.
G-How has VOE been received in the states & abroad? Do you feel you should have a larger audience?
JIM:Voice of Eye is getting more recognition as more of our music gets around. Its been steadily growing all over, although the Asian market is a tough nut to crack. Ahh!! but of course wed like a bigger audience.
G-Is VOE a live entity? If so, please describe your performances.
JIM:Our performances consist of the two of us playing with two effects racks in front of us. We try to play as much of the show live as possible, some beat tracks are on DAT, this takes all our concentration so we dont run around and get goofy or anything. We sometimes show video of Indian ruins, natural chaos patterns and other primal phenomenon that weve shot on our travels. This sort of clues the audience into where were coming from.
G-What do you have planned for the future? Any other projects or more VOE material?
JIM:ND magazine is releasing a mini-CD soon entitled What is Not Free, also Manifold will be releasing a CD on a fiction theme with Paul Schutze, Robert Rich and Voice of Eye. Our next full-length CD will be released in the Fall.
VOICE OF EYE DISCOGRAPHY: Mariner Sonique CD, Vespers CD, Transmigration CD, What Is Not Free CDEP, Narratives:Music For Fiction CD (with Paul Schutze and Robert Rich) VOICE OF EYE/LIFE GARDEN: The Hungry Void Vol.1:Fire CD, The Hungry Void Vol.2:Air CD
Thanx to Jim and Bonnie for agreeing to this interview. To contact VOICE OF EYE: Cyclotron Industries PO Box 66291 Houston TX 77266 USA