Digital Single Review: Peterpeter’s “Heavy Traffic”

Review by Dawoud Kringle

PeterpeterArtist: Peterpeter
Title: Heavy Traffic
Format: single (digital)
Label: self-produced
Genre: experimental/electronics/improv/progressive rock

MFM members Peter Wetzler and Peter Einhorn from Kingston (NY) have teamed up to bring us some very fascinating music.

Keyboardist, composer, and writer Peter Wetzler is not sure how he became interested in music. He relates the story his mother told him of when he was five, she brought him near a beehive to hear the “music of the bees.” With a background in classical piano and an eclectic spectrum of musical influences, he has worked extensively in film, television, theater, dance, and music education. He was quoted as saying “My music merges emotion and intuition.”

Guitarist, composer, and educator Peter Einhorn is a graduate of the University of Miami jazz guitar program and holds a master’s degree in Music Composition and Mathematics. He has been the recipient of a “Meet The Composer” grant and has scored over 30 videos and documentaries for private sources and cable TV. He also runs his own production company, Unicorn Productions.

Wetzler and Einhorn have released music under the name Peterpeter. On this track “Heavy Traffic,” Einhorn plays the Breath control Yamaha VL, and electric guitar. Wetzler plays keyboard synthesizer with UVI IRCAM piano samples.

The track starts with a back-and-forth between A and D on the keyboard, with the guitar answering with a tritone pattern of A, C, and F#. The keyboard answers with explorations of free tonalities. The conversation between the instruments becomes more nuanced and intricate without making many startling deviations from its tonal center (although, at one point, a Bb is brought in that interestingly changes the mood). A beautiful array of textures and timbres are presented for contemplation before they recede into the void they emerged from to be succeeded by new musical ideas.

At one point the music deviates far from its point of origin, like a mountain climber who ascends an unclimbable peak. The people on the ground warn him not to go, declaring “You will die.” But he continues, disappearing into the heights few dare to follow, and beholding wonders few comprehend.

The listener is privileged to be a witness to this musical conversation of deep philosophical and spiritual concepts between two masters.