Ambient addendum

The man across the road obsessively uses his petrol driven blower to remove leaves from the concrete slab in front of his house. A neighbour shatters the afternoon peace on his ride on mower. He mows every Thursday afternoon regardless of whether the lawn needs it or not. Wattlebirds squawk as they aggressively chase a spinebill through the garden. Up the back kids laugh and squeal on the new trampoline they got from Santa. The breaking surf can be heard in the distance. My computer gently drones away in the background. This the soundtrack to our lives...

I was thinking about these things yesterday while listening to, and penning the post on, emptywhale's latest release 'That Grey Place We Go'. I marvel at their ability to create these works of art, to develop the structures and moments that have the capacity to take you unexpected places and thought patterns that seem to emerge from nowhere. I wonder for a moment about the technical aspects of who using what can make these sounds, then decide it doesn't matter how, all that matters is now...

I am a relative 'newbie' when it comes to the ambient genre, although accepting I have probably listened inadvertently to 'ambient' music in the past without realising it. And what is ambient, or any classification of music anyway? My first love has always been jazz...but who can define what that means anymore? And, shock horror, I have even been listening to some classical sounds lately! And in cyberspace threads start to appear...

I had accidentally come across Erik Satie on UbuWeb in the same way as I had with emptywhale on The Internet Archives, and had used music from both as sound tracks to some recent video work. It turns out that Satie is considered a precursor of ambient music. He also wrote the music for Rene Clair's 1924 dadaist film 'Entr'acte'. The film was scripted by one of my main influences Francis Picabia, and starred, among others, Marcel Duchamp whose 1957 talk 'The Creative Act' I had used as soundtrack for another video, a video that was greatly influenced, at least visually, by Brian Eno, the father of ambient music.

In recent discussion with emptywhale about possible collaboration Chris had followed his own path in finding out more about Herbie Hancock, whose 'Funk Hunter' I had rather lazily used in another video, but had never been happy with, wanting a more menacing effect. He had come across, and really liked, a 1974 Miles Davis track called 'He Loved Him Madly' written as a tribute to Duke Ellington. It turns out that it was a major influence on Brian Eno.

And so on it goes...I am a HUGE Miles Davis fan, never tiring of listening to his music, and drawing constant inspiration from his adoption of change as part of the creative process. His capacity to always push ahead, try new things, and yet remain true to his discipline propels me to write this post, not for you dear reader if you have ventured this far, but as a reminder to myself to build on the new directions in my work that developed through 2012. I will always have a soft spot for eros and thanatos, but in 2013 my hand reaches out for the handle of a new door...

That Grey Place We Go

Dark ambient outfit emptywhale have just released the second album 'That Grey Place We Go'. You can download it for free (yes, that's right folks, for free!) from the Haze netlabel website here, or if you prefer The Internet Archives here...

A brilliant follow up to 'fearscapes'...six delicious soundscapes of meditative magic that suggest that the 'Grey Place' is not so much a destination but a metaphor for the world we inhabit. Highly recommended if you like your music atmospheric and thoughtful, and with a hint of self-deprecation thrown in to keep you sane...maybe...

emptywhale

emptywhale is a dark ambient outfit from the UK that formed in 2011. The above is the cover to the first album, released into the public domain by the independent and non-commercial netlabel Haze, which is based in Belarus. Haze specialises in experimental, eclectic and avant-garde music...

I came across emptywhale by a chance encounter on the Internet Archives. I had been searching for a soundtrack for a film I had visualised but not yet made. After what seemed like hours of sifting through some pretty weird and wonderful stuff, there was something about the name, title and cover art that drew me to start listening to the tracks. And what a pleasant encounter it has turned out to be. I was particularly drawn to the track 'Suburbs' which I ended up using in the film 'The Lunar Machine', or maybe I should say it used me, for, rather than finding a soundtrack that fitted with existing footage, the soundtrack ended up determining the feel, sequence and continuity of the film. It was a fascinating (to me at least) exercise in process because there was no attempt on my part to 'visualise' the music, nor obviously any attempt by emptywhale to 'auralise' the visuals. It just fitted the feel I had wanted to achieve...an uneasy feeling that all is not quite right...

So, I was more than pleasantly surprised to get an email from emptywhale last weekend saying they liked what I had done with 'Suburbs', and to be privileged to a sneak preview of the new album due out in a few weeks time. We also had some discussion about processes, working in the public domain and possible future collaboration. I am not an expert on the dark ambient genre, but I find these sonic journeys full of humanistic concern for the environment and direction of society. As I wrote to Chris, listening to his music, or soundscapes as he calls them, took me to places that I had never been before. A whole new door has opened for me, and I'm excited! I'm steppin' through!

You can download or stream 'fearscapes' by clicking here...