Jason Doell - becoming in shadows ~ of being touched

It's hard to parse exactly what you're listening to when you immerse yourself in Jason Doell's new recording, Becoming In Shadows ~ Of Being Touched. The old adage about never judging a book by its cover may often hold true but somehow Xuan Ye's beautiful design speaks volumes about both the sonics and structure of this bewildering document by the Toronto-based composer and sound artist. Though the imagery is blatantly computer-generated, it's rife with references to vegetation, bones, water, and buildings. Similarly, one of the most beguiling aspects of Doell's music here is the friction that builds up between its organic surface and the elusive, unruly quality that permeates just about everything else. Piano is audibly the album's lone instrument, but even with that anchor of familiarity, one still finds themselves confronted with something disorienting, but utterly captivating—tangled layers, meandering forms, subtle idiosyncratic manipulations. Doell's performance brims with improv