CD Review | Dark Flower (Redshift Records, 2023)

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Dark Flower
Linda Catlin Smith, composer; Thin Edge New Music Collective
Redshift Records, November 2023

Dark Flower pulls together more than 25 years of atmospheric compositions by Linda Catlin Smith for a mesmerizing avant-garde journey.

The Toronto composer’s music is strongest when it’s trying to communicate a theme. This is instantly apparent in the first track, Wanderer (2009, revised 2022), in which the piano maintains a steady pace, using a sharp but muffled sound as it weaves through the uneasy violin line. The piano assumes the role of the wanderer, while the remaining instrumentation acts as the imposing forest through which it is venturing. This generates a sense of aimlessness and uncertainty, which Smith successfully reels in when necessary. Despite being 10 minutes long, the track never feels drawn out, nor does it inundate the listener with emotion.

Duo For 2 Cellos (2015) builds on the theme of aimlessness, as the cellos also sound lost in the first few minutes. The less descriptive title of the piece leaves more up to interpretation. The cellos become synchronized after a long period of tension in their musical lines, and as their interactions become more comfortable and lethargic, the listener is prepared for a thematic change. After enough time, the wanderer has found someone or something that can offer guidance and direction.

The piece from which the album takes its name, Dark Flower (2020), presents what the wanderer has supposedly found: balance. The dark flower draws on the concept of ‘deadly but beautiful’: though it is nice to look at, coming too close could prove dangerous. This is reflected in the music, as the pianist’s rapidly ascending arpeggiations (five minutes into the piece) seem initially optimistic before they quickly devolve into doubt-filled dissonance. Some of the flowering melodies that wither away reappear in Dreamer Murmuring (2014) to create a similarly moody scene. Smith also uses hard stops and silence to emphasize the negative space of the song (the darkness), and follows each gap with an uplifting melody. With Their Shadows Long (1997), meanwhile, maintains tension despite contracting the featured instruments to piano and piano.

This continuous tonal and affective contrast is another of the album’s greatest strengths. It demonstrates Smith’s excellent understanding of balance, and allows the listener to experience powerful emotional states at a safe distance, without fear of being consumed by them.