Bruce Hodges hears the performance by the idiosyncratic violinist at New York’s Roulette on 6 May 2024
From the initial light spiccato bow strokes, you could tell that Gabby Fluke-Mogul ventures far afield from most violinists. At Roulette, the venerable hotspot for experimental music, she improvised from a chair in front of the stage, with a tall speaker on her right and an elegant lamp on her left. Offstage, her collaborator and sound technician Danishta Rivero (based in Oakland, California) processed the instrument’s timbre with rock concert-quality barrages of sound. The result, roughly an hour long and titled GUT, stormed through 14 speakers, as Rivero bolstered the fluttering, hiccupping tones that flooded the room.
Some of the violinist’s bow strokes, using minimal arm movement, produced scorching splashes that left echo-filled chills in their wake, while longer bow pulls created walls of static-laden feedback. At times she would flip the violin over on her lap to rub the back surface and tap the wood for percussive effects. At other moments, she held her instrument like a small guitar – plucking the strings and evoking a bluesy mood – or strummed her fingers rapidly across the strings, as you might do with a mandolin.
It is clear that Fluke-Mogul has carved out a singular career, incorporating elements of jazz, and working with unconventional artists like Fred Frith, Zeena Parkins, Lester St Louis, William Parker and the late Pauline Oliveros. Her visceral aesthetic will be challenging for some, but for those eager to explore the outer reaches of the violin, she is just the ticket.
BRUCE HODGES
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