Reviews:

(Dead Angel) This exercise in sparse, open sound and birdlike playing is the solo guitar work of Bryan Day, head banana of Public Eyesore, everyone's favorite purveyor of the new improv and all that. The first side (the "sagebrush" suite, in three pieces) is minimalist, relatively subdued, and moves at a deliberate pace, with the pieces recognizably different without deviating too much from the original feel and game plan. I think he's playing guitar, but the sounds are often birdlike, so... who knows? The bird sounds play off percussive sounds as quiet, bell-like guitar bits trill beneath the bird 'n beat noises. The flip side, the "deimos" suite, is similar in execution but a bit different in sound, maybe even recorded at a different time under different conditions. The three songs there are more of the same -- spare and crafty improvisations involving extended spaces and minimal playing, with unusual motifs and unpredictable sounds dropped into the mix at irregular intervals. Interesting and spartan stuff that nevertheless contains plenty to hear for the listener paying attention to the details. - RKF

(Touching Extremes) Bryan Day, label honcho and improvising artist, is among those individuals who leave the music do the talking. In fact, he often sends me handfuls of great releases under various monikers, Eloine being one of them, usually lacking press releases or letters. The problem is that the CDR edition analyzed here (dated 2005 but released in 2007) doesn't feature notes, either - only the track names - so I'd have to guess that this is a reissue of materials previously published on cassette (OK, it is - I checked the website, heh heh). Despite the absence of information, these thirty minutes for strings, percussion, noises and heaven-knows-what-else are, again, great. Unusual brilliance springing out from everywhere, zings, scrapes, howls and slight returns contrasting any plausible insurgence by something remotely associable to a "pattern" or a "groove". Bizarre mixtures of hyperactivity and somnolence (check "Cloudkiln, the". What a title, huh?), distortion and controlled feedback taking command towards the end of the disc, the sensation of being caught between "stylistic islands" without having a clue of what this stuff is all about, frequent detuning of strings recalling antique Asian instruments. A lot of movement which, curiously, sounds fairly tranquil throughout. Undecipherable music, appealing all the way and - on top of that - sounding beautiful from the first second to the last. Who needs liners? - Massimo Ricci

(Vital Weekly) Can't remember reviewing an audio cassette, but here's one: by Eloine, a solo project of Brain Day, the man behind Public Eyesore. Two sides of improvisation music that may or may not include guitars, short-wave radio and percussion. All of the sounds seem to work on the same level, with none really jumping out of it. This works in a really nice way. Unlike it's predecessor 'Short Community' (see Vital Weekly 438), the separate tracks don't have a leading instrument, but the end result can be compared. Nice lo-fi improvised music in a calm manner. - Frans de Waard

(Aiding and Abetting) Day's taste in music is eclectic, but he tends to favor contemplative improvisational fare and really messy Japanese stuff. Eloine is straight out of that first category. Contemplative, but not dull. Each piece on each of these discs has at least one--and generally many--exceptional ideas. Day's intriguing use of percussion and (occasionally) guitar often sounds like rats scraping at the inside of your brain. And once these pieces get in there, you'll never be able to get them out. I'm not sure how all this translates live (I love this kind of thing when safely within my house; not so much on stage), but these albums are proof that some folks not only know good music, they know how to make it as well. - Jon Worley