album // Soundescapes
'I think we're both rebels,' is how Simon
Fisher Turner summarised Soundescapes, his distance
collaboration with documentary film-maker Espen J. Jörgensen
which was released by Mute Artists in November
2011. The product of a chance encounter following Jörgensen
browsing MySpace in response to having heard Turner's soundtrack
to the David Lynch movie Nadja, Soundescapes contains
thirteen tracks of adventurous sonic exploration, marking this out
as the freshly-independent Mute's most experimental release so far,
and reuniting Turner with the enduring faith of Daniel Miller,
whose original Mute imprint was Turner's primary output for a large
chunk of his career.
On the gatefold cardboard sleeve (which hides a
fold-out poster), Turner is credited with 'structure, rearrangements,
composing, editor, voice, life recordings' while Jörgensen
is responsible for 'sampling, circuit bent & analogue instruments,
beats, oscillators, rain app, voice, composing'. From how the pair
have described their collaboration, this demarcation of roles and
responsibilities was crucial to Soundescapes' genesis –
Jörgensen would effectively 'feed' Turner a diverse array of
almost random recorded sounds, the sources of which were often not
evident or known to the recipient, while over the course of two
to three years Turner would process those sounds into the tracks
via harsh edits into the thirteen songs included on the album. Just
as Turner would be blind to the sources of the sounds, Jörgensen
would often find it yet harder to identify his own sounds in the
resulting tracks. Jörgensen's sound sources included circuit
bent instruments, snatches of conversations and pounded wood among
others, none of which are remotely identifiable on the album. It's
also worth bearing in mind that this collaboration occurred without
either side ever meeting one another, nor even speaking over the
phone.
One condition of the collaboration would be that
each side was unable to challenge the other, meaning that Jörgensen
would not comment extensively on the final tracks Turner was sending
him, while Turner would be the one to ask for more sounds or indeed
decide when Jörgensen should stop the pipeline of noises. Jörgensen
only commented on two tracks, one of which, 'Tristfull', includes
one of the more identifiable sound sources in the form of a French
rain shower recorded by Turner, soaking the backdrop with organic
sound while layers of what could be tinkly music box sounds (but
easily could be from something entirely different) dominate the
foreground. Similarly 'Drippex', which starts with a snatch of wobbly,
Marc Bolan-esque vocals (one of Turner's own contributions) wanders
off on nice gentle synth arpeggios, while closer 'Twomen' features
snatches of what Jörgensen calls 'bedtalk in Japanese' and
simple, layered baby xylophone loops. These are three of the prettier
tracks here, a direct contrast with the busy 'Noise Activity' which
Jörgensen originally described to me as the duo's 'ADHD track'
when describing its short abrasive punch to the eardrums.
Jörgensen sent me a photo of one of his favourite
sound sources, a circuit bent Speak & Learn children's education
tool that I vaguely remember from my own childhood. That trademark
electronic voice tone is evident (I think) on 'Worry', but instead
of the friendly computer I remember, that voice is manic, distorted
and uncomfortable to listen to, while all the while a regimented
grid of pulsing not-quite-beats and synth squalls keep time. Elsewhere
tracks blend together calm and serene tones with mechanistic cyborg
confrontationalism, a case in point being the (almost) title track
'Soundescape' (early versions of which Jörgensen sent me as
a 'legal bootleg'), wherein vast blankets of Eno-esque drift clash
with the abrupt intrusion of broken electronic machinery whirring
to life.
'Selfcentred' starts with drones and noxious clouds
of threatening noise, concluding with brief snatches of what could
be tiny orchestral loops if you listen really closely punctuated
by patches of strained silence. Most tracks on Soundescapes
are perfunctory affairs, generally lasting no more than four minutes
or so, until you reach the hypnotic 'Start At The End' which stretches
out its template of loops and grinding Throbbing Gristle-style
industrial sound closer to the nine minute mark. Some Aphex-style
detuned and distorted beats emerge toward the end of this album
highlight, closing out the track with thunderous and gorgeous noise.
When I tried to import this CD into iTunes, the
genre that came up was 'pop'. Surely this should be 'subversive
pop', given the often punishing sonic assault that the listener
is presented with, and it is amusing to imagine a parallel dimension
in which this is what pop music might sound like. For me, this noisy
and adventurous release is a welcome, uncompromising, addition to
New Mute's diverse 2011 release schedule, a direct relative of its
more sonically challenging material from yesteryear and a not-so-gentle
reminder that Mute's genesis lies squarely in electronic music's
wilder hinterlands. Sometimes you just need something a bit more
edgy to clear your head, and Soundescapes does that many
times over the course of its 40-odd minutes.
cd/i:
1. Noise Activity
2. Soundescape
3. Vast
4. Snowhere
5. Chillax
6. Tristfull
7. Biograf
8. Worry
9. Drippex
10. Selfcentred
11. Sur
12. Start The End
13. Twomen
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