Profile: Option Magazine "E" issue, Nov/Dec 1985

Ensconced in Portland, Maine, which is certainly not usually considered a hotbed for new music and the arts, composer and performer John Etnier is quietly writing some very fine and intriguing music in his corner of the globe. Etnier's music and compositional approaches invite comparisons with the likes of Brian Eno, David Byrne and Bill Nelson. Like them, Etnier comes form a rock background and has extended his efforts beyond that realm and into the contemporary arts- primarily dance in his particular case. Etnier's music, like that of Mikel Rouse (the Mikel Rouse Broken Consort and Tirez Tirez) and Wim Mertens (Soft Verdict) stands as the nexus between rock and contemporary art music, actually invading both territories. In spite of the comparisons or influences that one might cite, his music would never be mistaken for any but his own.

Etnier was a member of Portland's avant garde punk-jazz group, The Same Band, before venturing into a solo career. Thus far, Etnier has released two records, with two more in the works. He has written five scores for the Ram Island Dance Company and plans to venture into collaborations with filmmakers and choreographers outside the Portland area.

His first solo album, The Demo, voted as one of the best of the year by numerous New England rock critics, displays Etnier's diverse array of talents, including pop songs, as well as more experimental electronic music vignettes, much like Eno's Another Green World.

Some might accuse Etnier of being derivative of the collaborative effort by Eno and Byrne, My Life In The Bush of Ghosts, as he also uses found sounds in the form of taped voices set to music. However, such musique concrete techniques have been part and parcel of the repertoire of techniques since the early '50s. The techniques Etnier uses for taped voices actually go beyond those employed by Byrne and Eno in a variety of ways. In addition to voices in which the texts are clearly understood, there are also veiled speech fragments which are just beyond comprehension, setting up a kind of maddening tension that is ultimately compelling. Whether in the foreground or background, he works with the human voice exceedingly well, using it for its possibilities in the areas of texture, color and rhythmic structures, as well as textual content.

Arterial, Etnier's second album and the complete score for a Ram Island piece, is perhaps his finest effort to date. Each side corresponds to the two sections of the dance. The first side begins like so much ambient music; ethereal, soothing and unobtrusive. However, about five minutes into the score, brilliant, luminous chords of uncommon richness suddenly burst forth, startling the unwary listener and causing a kind of aural double take. The effect is stunning and the sound exquisite.

Other portions of this work make use of a children's choir, not unlike some of David Bedord's music; the voice of a young girl reciting Etnier's text over an ambient synthesizer accompaniment, jazzy repetitive chords, and a movement for acoustic guitar and synthesizers that evokes the sounds of nature, recalling Bartók's "night music."

One upcoming release [Performance] will contain several excellent works, including CONELRAD, one of Etnier's more aggressive numbers, written for a dance dealing with nuclear war, using fast, asymmetric rhythms, and unintelligible taped voices with guitars and synthesizers. Even without seeing the dance, the music is compelling and primal. An excerpt from Her Dance shows a very different facet of Etnier's music. By using pedal steel guitar and harmonica, there is more than a subtle reference to country music, though in an ambient music context. It is certainly nothing that would go over well at the Grand Ole Opry.

By all means, Etnier is a figure to keep your eye on.

Dean Suzuki