November 8–15, 2001

music picks|ambient/experimental

David Darling

Co-conspiring with abstract environmental schemer Paul Winter and members of Oregon gave Indiana-born cellist David Darling entry into ambient Americana. Collaborating with ECM label icons guitarist Terje Rypdal and saxophonist Jan Garbarek added tattered Euro-elegance to Darling’s distant forlorn frequencies. This caught the ears of directors Wim Wenders and Michael Mann, whose use of Darling on soundtracks for, respectively, Until the End of the World and Heat gave these dense films a layer of lonely emotionalism. But Darling’s nine solo works, like the new Cello Blue (Hearts of Space), are his slowly revolving shining hour: a shimmering chimera of quietly frightened compositions played with baleful prayerfulness that result in a blend of music that evokes serenity and, somehow, the solitude anxiety brings.

—A.D. Amorosi

The Gathering presents David Darling, Sat., Nov. 10, 8 p.m., $20, $10 with student ID, St. Mary’s Hamilton Village, 3916 Locust Walk, 610-734-1009, www.thegatherings.org.