Three Free Radicals’ third album, Atlas of the Heavens, adds a voice to the electroacoustic avantimprov ensemble, harpist Liis Viira.
She joins fellow Estonian, guitarist Mart Soo, and Minnesotan liveelectronics performer Scott L. Miller in this collection of free
improvisations recorded in August 2017.
Miller and Soo’s collaboration continues at a distance since their 2015 debut album, Diary of a Left-Handed Sleepwalker, a ‘satisfying release
of experimental music by a duo that has a story to tell.’ (Vital Weekly) and 2017’s Travelogue, ‘Highly recommended no matter where you stand on present-day modern matters.‘ (Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review).
For Atlas of the Heavens, they invited Liis Viira— another outstanding member of Tallinn’s fertile avant-garde improv scene —to join them in the studio. Her approach to performing the harp employs the gamut of extended techniques, a liberal use of kitchen utensils, and occasional singing. Viira’s improvisations include lush arpeggios and funky ostinatos that perfectly complement Soo’s lyrical guitar style and Miller’s soundscapes.
Mart Soo has performed and collaborated with an impressive cast of international musicians throughout Europe, Japan, and the U.S. from a diverse range of styles—jazz, classical, non-Western, imprange of styles—jazz, classical, non-Western, improvised,electroacoustic. In addition to his work as a performer and composer for radio, theater, and film, Soo and pianist/improviser Taavi Kerikmäe have curated Tallinn’s most visible improvised music series since 2005, IMPROTEST.
The IMPROTEST label distributes the music of artists who have performed on the series, including Michel Doneda, Ninh Lé Quan, Isabelle Duthoit,and Xavier Charles.
Scott L. Miller has a long history of electro-acoustic collaborations, including with bass clarinetist Pat O’Keefe (in Willful Devices), flutist Carla Rees, and the new music ensemble Zeitgeist. He’s best known for his ecosystemic performance pieces and use of the Kyma sound design environment. He is Past-President and Director of the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the U.S. (SEAMUS).
Liis Viira has eclectic interests—composition, classical harp interpretation, improvisation, and experimental animation. Since pursuing these interests at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and the Estonian Academy of Arts,Viira now performs with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and various chamber groups, composes for everything from solo instruments to orchestra, plays free improv as Liz Wirestring, and makes experimental animation in her studio, Uniliis Stuudio.
www.liisviira.com
mart.soo@gmail.com
info@scottlmiller.net
Supported in part by the American Composers Forum through the 2018 McKnight Composer Fellowship Program.