Comprised of two EP’s on one CD/digital release. Skew / Flume marks a continuation of the long-standing work of American sound artist Seth Nehil.
Category: solo
Bounds treats recorded sound as infinitely malleable; from grains to pulses to pitches to rhythms, loops and cycles; interruptions, repetitions, spaces, pauses; strings in a continuum. Sounds sourced from percussion instruments, subjected to techniques of micro-editing and impulse-response reverb. Acoustic events become alien tones in strata of (artificial) real space.
Meticulously edited studio constructions composed of metallic rattles and impacts, vocal whoops and grunts, and digital silence. A refined use of digital editing techniques gives way to jagged repetitive structures, arrhythmic punk and wild cinematic spaces. Percussive elements are fused together, extracted from found objects, field recordings, synthetic tones, crashes, and drum machine thuds. The textures of hip hop, electronic, industrial and noise are filtered through the craft of musique concrete and sound design. These miniatures serve as a more synthetic and noisy partner to Knives (released in 2009 on Senufo).
Open clusters, animal patterns, resonant “ghosts”, dynamism, percussive bursts and awkwardness. Sources include voice, plucked springs, dry branches, various metal objects, Fender Rhodes, struck pipes, detuned hammer dulcimer, bass drum, clapping, trombone, dry bamboo, signal generator, blown pipes, Chinese mouthharp, church organ, prepared piano, prepared synth, and recordings of the Chicago O’Hare Airport, a rushing stream, mineral deposits in water, snow crystals, heating vents and industrial areas in Portland, OR.
Physicality, suspense, cinematic effects, rhythmic ruptures, and dynamism. Compositional processes include improvisation, blind layering, random muting, re-amping, impact alignment. Many of these tracks were used in the dance performance Bandage a Knife. Sources include organ, prepared synthesizer, trombone, string trio, voice, plucked springs, leather, blown pipes, ice shards, signal generator, drum kit, drum machine, clapping, breaking glass, bowed acoustic guitar, plucked and bowed hammer dulcimer, Fender Rhodes, snapping twigs, piano, feedback, stones, and field recordings of freezing rain on plastic, a rushing stream, a market in Kyoto.
Choral clusters, animalism, extended spaces, natural acoustics, awkwardness, percussive bursts. Site-specific improvisation, blind layering, sonic hybrids, envelope manipulation, faulty tape recorders, live feedback/distortion devices. Sources include voice, hammer dulcimer, glass xylophone, metal objects, feedback, signal generator, detuned piano, harmonica, wood pieces, fireworks, chimes, bamboo swords, sawblades, glass on tile, bass drum, flute, plucked autoharp, tuning forks, snare drum, 300 lbs of rock salt, a book, and recordings of rain in a half-finished cabin, melting snow on leaves, rain on a plastic roof, struck wood (from inside a well pipe), a graveyard and a schoolyard in Portland, OR, ice crystals and wind in the Columbia Gorge, WA.
Percussive bursts, linked events, micro-envelopes, spatial dissonance and crowd noises, Amnemonic Site: a “place of forgetting” – a temporary zone of amusia (the loss of ability to understand music). Sources include wood, fabric, tuning forks, fireworks, beans in various containers, Balinese gamelan, oscillator, blown organ pipes, brass organ reeds, Serge modular synth, metal pieces, and recordings of parks and New Year’s celebrations in Chinatown, Manhattan.
