Duos for Doris

Duos for Doris
Studio album by
Keith Rowe and John Tilbury
Released29 April 2003 (2003-04-29)
Recorded7 January 2003
StudioCCAM, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France
GenreElectroacoustic improvisation
Length2:13:15
LabelErstwhile
Keith Rowe chronology
Rabbit Run
(2003) 		Duos for Doris
(2003) 		A View From the Window
(2004)
John Tilbury chronology
Another Part of the Story
(2002) 		Duos for Doris
(2003) 		Discrete Moments
(2004)

Duos for Doris is a collaborative studio album by Keith Rowe and John Tilbury. It was released on 29 April 2003 through Erstwhile Records. The album is dedicated to Tilbury's mother, Doris, who died days before the album was recorded on 7 January 2003. Duos for Doris is a part of the genre electroacoustic improvisation (EAI), and is composed of three lengthy tracks. It has been regarded as one of the best releases in EAI, and has received positive reviews from AllMusic and Pitchfork.

Background, recording, and release

Upon working on Duos for Doris, Keith Rowe and John Tilbury had worked together for over forty years, particularly in the group AMM.[1] Despite that, this was the first time Rowe collaborated with Tilbury only.[2][3] The album was recorded on 7 January 2003 at Studio CCAM in Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy,[4] where two out of the three hours recorded were chosen to be published.[5] Duos for Doris was released on 29 April 2003 through Erstwhile Records, on CD.[3] It is dedicated to Tilbury's mother, Doris, who died from a stroke[6] two days before the album's recording. She was ninety-five years old upon death.[5][7] The duo would release an album in 2011, titled E.E. Tension and Circumstance, which was dedicated to Rowe's deceased mother.[7]

The cover of Duos for Doris is a painting by Rowe akin to the works of the painter L. S. Lowry, who was Doris's favourite painter.[5] In the liner notes, Rowe, who is known for his improvisations, writes that he believes the term improvisation ought to be changed because "what is far more crucial is being aware of the decisive moment".[8] Furthermore, Rowe discusses the act of not listening to Tilbury's instruments during recording, regarding it as "about the intensification of the edge, or frame".[9]

Composition

Duos for Doris is an electroacoustic improvisation (EAI) record[6] mainly composed from guitars, shortwave radio, and prepared pianos.[2] In the record, Rowe plays the guitar and electronics while Tilbury plays the piano.[4] The guitar, played in an unconventional method, as Stylus describes is "a beautiful growl of magnetic interference and feedback punctured by ethereal knocks and groans".[10] Duos for Doris contains three tracks: "Cathnor", "Olaf", and "Oxleay" in order, all around one hour and ten minutes, forty-five minutes, and seventeen minutes long respectively. In "Cathnor", it has slight sounds of tapping and scraping along with melancholic chords similar to the composer Morton Feldman.[3] "Olaf" features the prepared piano, more clear sounds of radio, and Tilbury tapping on his piano. In the final track, "Oxleay", strings and higher piano keys are played alongside low hums from Rowe.[2][3] Near the end of it, the keys get higher, which AllMusic would describe as "creating music of such fragility and grace".[3]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD[11]
Pitchfork7.8/10[2]
StylusA+[10]

Duos for Doris has been considered as one of the best releases of EAI.[6] The Wire listed Duos for Doris as one of the best improvisation releases for 2003.[12] The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD gave it a perfect score out of four stars, highlighting the duo's sounds and the track "Cathnor".[11] Joe Panzner for Stylus praised it as one of the finest releases in EAI for its challengingness.[10] Brian Olewnick from AllMusic scored it perfect out of five stars, naming it "simply one of the finest albums one is ever likely to hear". Olewnick highlighted one of the final parts in the album as an example of segments adding to "an achievement of surpassing beauty".[3] A Pitchfork review by Andy Beta described the overall sound as: "It's as there or not there as you want it to be, which is something to think about when people are—physically, at least—no longer with you."[2] In a Dusted review, Matt Wellins wrote: "Duos for Doris seems even more purposeful and conscious than their other work". Wellins also regards it as a "private side note" to the work of AMM.[1]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Cathnor"1:10:14
2."Olaf"45:32
3."Oxleay"17:29
Total length:2:13:15

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic and Bandcamp.[3][4]

  • Keith Rowe – guitar, electronics, cover art
  • John Tilbury – piano
  • François Dietz – sound engineering
  • Friederike Paetzold – design
  • John E. Abbey – production

References

  1. ^ a b Wellins, Matt (19 May 2003). "Dusted Reviews: Keith Rowe / John Tilbury - Duos for Doris". Dusted. Archived from the original on 22 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d e Beta, Andy (21 July 2003). "Keith Rowe: Duos for Doris Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Olewnick, Brian. "Duos for Doris - Keith Rowe". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
  4. ^ a b c "Duos for Doris". Bandcamp. Erstwhile Records. Archived from the original on 30 November 2025. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
  5. ^ a b c "Keith Rowe/John Tilbury: Duos for Doris". Erstwhile Records. Archived from the original on 5 December 2004. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
  6. ^ a b c Horne, Matthew (n.d.). "Keith Rowe / John Tilbury - E.E. Tension and Circumstance | Music Review". Tiny Mix Tapes. Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2026.
  7. ^ a b Eyles, John (21 January 2012). "Keith Rowe: Keith Rowe and John Tilbury: E.E. Tension and Circumstance". All About Jazz. Archived from the original on 19 September 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2026.
  8. ^ Bell, Ryan (7 August 2023). "A Recognition of Certain Realities: Keith Rowe's Absence". Aging Experiments: Futures and Fantasies of Old Age (PDF). p. 129. doi:10.14361/9783839462836. ISBN 9783839462836.
  9. ^ Cobussen, Marcel; Nielsen, Nanette (22 April 2016). "Interaction". Music and Ethics. London: Routledge. p. 60. doi:10.4324/9781315596594. ISBN 9781315596594.
  10. ^ a b c Panzner, Joe (1 September 2003). "Keith Rowe and John Tilbury - Duos for Doris - Review". Stylus. Archived from the original on 15 January 2025. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  11. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2004). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD (7th ed.). Penguin. p. 1394. ISBN 9780141014166.
  12. ^ "2003 Rewind". The Wire. No. 239. January 2004. p. 46. ISSN 0952-0680. The Wire Magazine 2004-01 at the Internet Archive.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: ignored ISSN errors (link)
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