Gary Lloyd Noland – “FATA MORGANA for piano” from the album “Inadverting Voyeurisms”

Gary Lloyd Noland grew up in a crowded house on a plot of land south of UC Berkeley known as People’s Park. He lived in Salzburg & Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where he absorbed many musical influences. He earned his Bachelor’s in music from UC Berkeley in 1979, continued studies at the Boston Conservatory, and transferred to Harvard University, where he added to his credits a Masters and a PhD in Music Composition in 1989. Gary Lloyd Noland is also known as the “Pimpleton Procrasturbation Ensemble” (which consists of composer Gary Lloyd Noland and his five anagrammatic alter egos: Orlan Doy Glandly, Darnold Olly Yang, Lon Gaylord Dylan, Dolly Gray Landon, and Arnold Day Longly).

Gary Lloyd Noland has released hundreds of works, which include piano, vocal, chamber, orchestral, experimental, and electronic pieces, as well as full-length plays in verse, chamber novels, and other text pieces, including graphically notated scores. His latest endeavor, still to be officially released, is the album “Inadverting Voyeurisms”. The recording is a bold mix of classic chamber music and avant-garde experimentalism, as Noland zigzags across contrasting sonic territories in search of his muse.

Pianos blend with brass, percussion and sound effects in a synthesis that is strikingly enjoyable and uncannily disorientating at the same time. For a musician who can rightfully be pegged as an innovator, Gary Lloyd Noland cultivates a consistent signature sound on “Inadverting Voyeurisms”. Melodies shine with whimsy and echoing urgency. Percussion hits, bounce, accelerate, and explode. Rhythms arrive and disappear in an unruly fashion, as harmonies oppose flourishes of dissonance.

The arrangements in these songs, build then fall apart, revealing themselves as something much more complex and more challenging than the work of a masterfully trained musician, simply easing comfortably into his oeuvre. Gary Lloyd Noland delights in pushing the limits of his craft, as well as the perceived comprehension of the listener. From the opening track, “FATA MORGANA for piano (for Ernesto Ferreri) Op. 131, No. 1” to the final closing cut, “DEATH STINKS (Op. 131, No. 10)”, Noland takes his audience on a journey to the most unfamiliar places.

What you’ll find on this journey is often exhilarating, alive with the joy of improvisation, curiosity and exploration. “Inadverting Voyeurisms” is a substantial work, especially created for forward thinkers, where Gary Lloyd Noland always does the unexpected. From the beautiful inspired piano motifs of “THE NEIGHBORS SEEM NICE (Op. 131, No. 2)”, to the twisting brass interludes on “ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS (Op. 131, No. 4)”, and the dynamic sonic effects on “DANCE OF THE DEATH LOVERS (Op. 131, No. 7)”, there is plenty to unravel on this album.

Each minute of every song, on “Inadverting Voyeurisms”, brings a new, innovative interjection of pianos and other variable sounds. Gary Lloyd Noland’s level of creativity is impressive, as he continues to find new and inventive ways to use it in a gloriously vivid recording that marks yet another eloquent chapter in his rich discography. To put this album into genre classification would be futile as it skips, skitters and lingers over multiple categories. CDs of his compositions are available from North Pacific Music and his own label, 7th Species.