CD REVIEWS FOR EIGHTH NERVE

The Wire Magazine / November 2006/ by Ken Hollings

As a founding member of the New York Society for Acoustic Ecology Edmund Mooney has a clear sense of place working in gallery spaces, collaborating with choreographers and theater groups, and devising sound specific websites. The Eighth Nerve is a sensitive and thoughtful affair. Dreamily deceptive spaces start to open up. Blurred shamanic voices drift, forms tumble and spin while the noises made by an Italian juicer are transformed into deep sonorous humming. Some of the stronger pieces in this collection, such as the tightly focused " To the Click" and the supple "Louder Crickets" were composed to accompany dance pieces...

 

Sonomu.net May 2007/Stephen Fruitman

Fifteen pieces composed mostly for dance between 1998 and 2005 and self-released by the composer in a handsome digipak.Rather than strictly musician, Edmund Mooney seems more of the art community at large, a Brooklyn Renaissance Man whose CV includes dozens of entries for "incidental music", "scores", "sound design" and "soundscapes" for dance, theatre, film, gallery installations and even for Estée Lauder cosmetic products...but no discography.Then again, this is his first release (a second CD, ”Happy Trails”, has just recently been issued). Mooney appears to use no conventional instruments, exploring instead the possibilities of various types of software in an imaginative, and often highly pleasing, manner.The tracks in this collection do not really cohere; each stands alone, and quite a few are like semi-precious stones whose many facets cast beguiling reflections as they are turned round and round in your ear. Despite its digital origins, none of the music sounds artificial or antiseptic. The languorous "Rotation" is particularly "tactile"; you feel as if you could sink your arms up to your elbows in its spongey softness; "Ode 5" recalls Tibetan singing bowls to Zen-out to; and "Choral Loops" features a mad, over-caffinated violinist who´s lost his klezmer band but keeps playing the same notes over and over until fragments of a choir join him - possibly the most arresting piece in the collection, one that certainly needs no dance number or stage scene going on in front of it to provide context.With so many pieces ranging over so many years and disciplines, some pieces are inevitably more attractive to certain listeners than others. On the whole, though, there is plenty of well-composed music for any discerning listener.

 

REVIEWS FOR FAREWELL, A DANCE SCORE FOR NUGENT/MATTESON DANCE

 

Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times

"Fare Well takes place within Edmund Mooney’s richly atmospheric sound score to create …that rare work that lives up to its advance billing... a delight.”.

 

Village Voice / February 7th, 2006 / "Maybe Forever Two Choreographer-Dancers Go on a Journey" / by Deborah Jowitt

The sound score by Edmund Mooney is also delicate and evocative. A soft humming may prevail, or a choir of voices or single struck notes. Often music is absent altogether, and the sound of the dancer-choreographers' breathing brings them even closer to us. At the end, she sits facing us. He stands close to her, facing away. She surveys the room; he lowers a raised arm. And slowly, slowly, slowly, the light and music fade. This is today's forever.

 

Village Voice / September 12th, 2005 / September Songs By Deborah Jowitt

Sometimes the duet, to the deep lazy sounds and melodies of Edmund Mooney's score, evoked the mating dance of peaceful birds.

 

REVIEWS FOR EROS THANATOS AN INSTALLATION BY ARTIST ERIKA HARRSCH

NYArts Magazine May/June 2007

Also part of EROS-THANATOS is a video (one of Harrsch’s favourite media), which registers an increasing number of butterflies in the same spot, until they completely cover the sky. Harrsch recorded the sound of the wings separately from the video take, and then enhanced this with the sounds of individual butterflies. All of this sound work was completed in collaboration with sound artist Edmund Mooney. The result is a “multi-level visual sound experience,” 12 minutes long, meticulously edited and worth every second.