OVERTONE ENSEMBLE
“2”

2021 release
Tim Catlin formed the Overtone Ensemble in 2012 in order to perform works using his self-made “Vibrissa” instruments. The Vibrissa includes twelve vertically mounted aluminum rods that are longitudinally stroked with gloved hands to produce ethereal “singing” tones. The long sustaining nature of the rods sound and microtonal tunings allow players a sonic palette of complex textures and harmonic complexity. Expanding from the instrumentation on their first album, these new recordings utilize Vibrissa instruments, plus a range of extended techniques on old instruments including timpani, bowed piano, bowed glockenspiel, bowed guitar, as well as some new instruments, like doppler rods and whirled tubes. The majority of the recordings were done in the Old Chapel building in Melbourne, Australia. The chapel, formerly attached to the Old Melbourne Gaol boasts ten-meter-high ceilings which added an enveloping acoustic ambience. At times it felt as though the spectral presences of former inmates were hovering benevolently in the rafters watching on.