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The four parts of this tempestuous nocturnal journey, take us through rain soaked labyrinthine streets and alleyways of a shadowy metropolis reminiscent of the film "Blade Runner" or a much smaller and strange decrepit world like those conjured up by the Brothers Quay. Either way, the work definitely sounds as if we were listening to this particular world from a very small perspective like that of a fly or a moth. The fourth part of this work is so good and ends in such a way that doesn't provide a sense of completion, that it leaves the listener wanting the journey to continue. Who knows? Maybe it will with a future installment? We shall see.
Jonathan Benham's sound sources were digitally recorded but in a few instances analog tape was used. A variety of recording techniques were utilized using standard microphones, his own custom built contact microphones, and a device he built to capture EMF (electromagnetic
frequencies), which are ever present in our environment. In many cases, he sonically manipulates or "flavors" the sounds during the recording process by funneling them through various physical set ups he's created either in his studio, or built on site with found materials. Jonathan also invents and builds experimental musical instruments and he's developed various
techniques to alter sounds initially produced by a variety of means. To illustrate, his studio contains a number of devices containing springs (for reverb effect) and visitors are often delightfully surprised to discover how certain sounds expressed within the space often maintain a surprising degree of unexpected sustain as these devices collectively and sympathetically "sing" together. Some of the source material for this
recording features examples of weather directly interacting with sound producing devices he's created, including wind, rain and sleet.
Christopher McFall is a sound artist working out of Kansas City, USA. His primary methods of working involve the use of computer-based programming
techniques, which are applied to art of processing sounds from treated analog field recordings and then re-combining them in a multitrack format. The main motivation behind Christopher's workings revolve around the desire to manipulate/engineer recorded aspects of the macroscopic world around him into composite sound-based musical compositions. Christopher McFall has released work previously online with Con-v, Filament Recordings, Laboratoire Moderne, Alg-a and Testube. His CD debut 'Four Feels for Fire' was released on Entr'acte in the fall of 2007.
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The first MP3-only release on the mOAR subdivision of and/OAR, is one hazy mysterious daydream of an album from French sound artist Gabriel Hernandez (aka GoGooo). Perhaps if Ingmar Bergman, François Truffaut and Andrei Tarkovsky met for tea to discuss a possible collaboration on a short film, this might be what it could possibly sound like?
Guest appearances include Felicia Atkinson (Sylvain Chauveau collaborator), Jez Riley French, Paw Grabowski and Dale Berning.
Copy and paste the following URL to download
the PDF booklet for this release:
http://and-oar.org/tmp/a_cote_v3_3.zip