"Full Spectrum Records returns with the debut collaboration from LA-based multi-instrumentalists Patrick Shiroishi and Marta Tiesenga - Empty Vessels.

Effectively a suite of improvised duets for soprano saxophone that recalls both the leviathan cistern meditations of Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening Band and Catherine Christer Hennix's extended raga drones, these pieces

"Effectively a suite of improvised duets for soprano saxophone that recalls both the leviathan cistern meditations of Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening Band and Catherine Christer Hennix's extended raga drones, these pieces were recorded during the early days of the pandemic in an underground tunnel located beneath a shuttered hot pot restaurant.

Empty Vessels stands apart as a remarkable document of almost architectural sound, in a sense, with the natural reverb of the tunnel asserting itself as a third player in the ensemble. Indeed, the natural acoustics of the space evoke a palpable sense of isolation and uneasiness. Fragments of melody, wails, and strained breaths dissolve into extended silences, erasing themselves in real time before being built back up into towering columns of resonance.

It's odd to think that this music was effectively enabled by the pandemic. Without California's extended lockdown, there likely would have been people coming in and out of the area, not to mention street noise seeping into the recording. While the reverberations of Patrick and Marta's performance have long since dissipated and the tunnel has returned to silence, what remains is music that longs to be underground - ever seeking, digging deeper still into the shadows."-Full Spectrum Records

"Empty Vessels is a quintessential lockdown album, four saxophone duets recorded in an underground tunnel somewhere in LA. Both Shiroishi and Tiesenga are on soprano, and they bring about slow-moving, shimmering tones that echo in accordance with the tunnel's natural resonance. These practices certainly give a nod toward Pauline Oliveros, but also share a common principle with more recent efforts of Ida Toninato, for example. Alternating between drones, sparser bursts, and short motifs, Shiroishi and Tiesenga provide contrasting pastoral and discordant passages, perhaps reminiscent of the pandemic that made this album possible - the peace and loneliness of empty streets modulated by an underlying dread of the virus behind it all, as well as our collective failure to avoid its worst effects. Empty Vessels will be out on August 12 from Full Spectrum."-Mike, AMN Review

Empty Vessels stands apart as a remarkable document of almost architectural sound, in a sense, with the natural reverb of the tunnel asserting itself as a third player in the ensemble. Indeed, the natural acoustics of the space evoke a palpable sense of isolation and uneasiness. Fragments of melody, wails, and strained breaths dissolve into extended silences, erasing themselves in real time before being built back up into towering columns of resonance.

It's odd to think that this music was effectively enabled by the pandemic. Without California's extended lockdown, there likely would have been people coming in and out of the area, not to mention street noise seeping into the recording. While the reverberations of Patrick and Marta's performance have long since dissipated and the tunnel has returned to silence, what remains is music that longs to be underground - ever seeking, digging deeper still into the shadows."-Full Spectrum Records

"Empty Vessels is a quintessential lockdown album, four saxophone duets recorded in an underground tunnel somewhere in LA. Both Shiroishi and Tiesenga are on soprano, and they bring about slow-moving, shimmering tones that echo in accordance with the tunnel's natural resonance. These practices certainly give a nod toward Pauline Oliveros, but also share a common principle with more recent efforts of Ida Toninato, for example. Alternating between drones, sparser bursts, and short motifs, Shiroishi and Tiesenga provide contrasting pastoral and discordant passages, perhaps reminiscent of the pandemic that made this album possible - the peace and loneliness of empty streets modulated by an underlying dread of the virus behind it all, as well as our collective failure to avoid its worst effects. Empty Vessels will be out on August 12 from Full Spectrum."-Mike, AMN Review