by Max Newman
Upon first thought, you would think that conveying complex themes like “the fragility of time and life” through mostly wordless music would seem futile. Bassist Linda May Han Oh and her band would beg to differ.
On March 19 in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel, the group achieved exactly that with their performance of The Glass Hours. It was an uncategorizable concert, heavy with feeling and chock-full of technical prowess.
Some concerts in Finney Chapel are swallowed up by the venue’s cavernous qualities. This was not one of them. Oh and her band sent notes swimming to every corner of the space, building walls of sound that were dotted by well-defined lead lines and solos — the ensemble was able to simultaneously convey cacophony and sonic exactitude with exquisite dynamic control.