New York-based duo
itsnotyouitsme focuses on making electroacoustic ambient music.
Caleb Burhans and Grey McMurray met when they were students at the Eastman School of Music and went on to found
itsnotyouitsme in Harlem in 2003. The group's 2011 album,
Everybody's Pain is Magnificent, is its third release on New Amsterdam Records.
Burhans plays electric violin, casio-sk-1, and resonator guitar; McMurray plays electric and acoustic guitars, and oud, and both contribute effects and vocals. The group's sound is heavily processed and sometimes densely complex in the variety of textures that are overlaid, but the music itself is directly communicative. Most of the pieces are slowly evolving, mysterious soundscapes that are atmospheric and elegiac in tone. The composers' musical sophistication comes through in the detailed attention to the development of each piece. Even though tape-looping and ostinato patterns are integral to many of the pieces, some elements are always in a state of flux, creating a constantly engaging musical fabric and demonstrating keen musical intelligence and sensitivity. The tracks have terrific, evocative, thought-provoking titles; finding just the right title for a piece is an art in itself. The two-CD set includes 15 tracks ranging in length from a minute and a half to 12 minutes. It’s generally the longer tracks, which give the listener a chance to really settle in, that have the greatest emotional resonance, although the lovely, brief i will watch the sky until the end of my time makes a powerful impact in a short span. The album should be of strong interest to fans of techno-ambient music. ~ Stephen Eddins